Birthday Present : TRUTH
by tankafer
Summary: SHINICHI LIFES' TRUTHS CAME TO LIGHT TO RAN


PSYCHO SENSEI HALLUCINATION CASE

Genta, the largest of Conan's three Shonen Tantei friends had been absent for two days, today being his third. Today was Ayumi's second day missing school. It struck Conan as odd. It wasn't cold season or flu season, neither Genta nor Ayumi had any allergies that he or Mitsuhiko knew of, and to be absent for more than a day indicated something rather serious. Everybody else in school was healthy, only missing a day or half a day for a doctor's appointment or visiting a relative for a three-day weekend, or some such thing.

The oddity of it was starting to raise the volume on his TV, in a manner of speaking. The overly-polite Mitsuhiko also found it odd that Genta and Ayumi had been out but hadn't called them. Ayumi might be understandable if she called that evening, but for Genta to be out for what was now three days without any sort of communication? Even if it was only to whine about any detective work he might be missing? Strange. Of course, Mitsuhiko's overactive imagination (his one failing that Conan was trying to work with, just like Genta's loud enthusiasm) had taken over on what could have happened to the two of them, ranging from alien abductions, to revenge for solving a case, to eloping (though he grumbled a bit on that).

The two had gone up to their teacher during lunch, asking why their two friends hadn't been to school.

"Oh, they just came down with something."

Conan wasn't convinced. That was a vague answer, but the teachers were informed by school administration of when their students would be out and for how long in order to send work home. It was one of Beika's requirements in all schools for parents to call in, otherwise the student was considered to be skipping and dealt with accordingly. It wasn't a problem in the elementary or even in the middle school all that much, but a few of Shinichi's classmates had been caught skipping in order to go out with a girlfriend or boyfriend, or just to avoid the pressure of school. Shinichi himself always called the school if he was going to be gone because of a murder investigation, since his parents were never around to call in for him. It was how he learned about it. He'd almost ended up in trouble because he didn't know about it beforehand.

"Ne, Conan-kun," Mitsuhiko leaned over once they sat back down. "Do you really think they are just sick?"

"Why don't we find out?" he replied.

The skinny boy brightened. "You mean investigate?"

"No, I mean why don't we visit them on our way home and see how they're doing?"

Mitsuhiko nodded enthusiastically. "And we can see if there are any clues on how they got sick!"

"Sure thing." Conan smiled and the volume turned down a bit. It may not be cold or flu season, but it wasn't unheard of to get sick. Perhaps it really was coincidence, or maybe Genta gave the cold to Ayumi. There was no need to put a mystery were there wasn't one. After all, Conan got enough mysteries and dead bodies; it was okay to have a break, right?

After school, Mitsuhiko and Conan were both racing towards the gate were Ran and Sonoko were waiting.

"Ran-nee-chan!" Conan called, waving. Inside, there was a brief flare of longing, but he ran right up to her, his freckled friend waiting somewhat impatiently a few feet away. "Ran-nee-chan, Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan are sick. Can Mitsuhiko-kun and I go visit them? They haven't been in school for a few days and are missing work and-"

"Slow down, Conan-kun," Ran admonished, bending down. "Your friends are sick?"

Conan nodded.

"And you want to go visit them?"

Conan nodded again.

"That's fine," Ran smiled, running a hand over his hair, straightening what had been disheveled with a day of play and school. "Give me a call when you're ready to come home and I'll come pick you up." She straightened his clothes a little and smiled as she stood back up. "Sonoko-chan and I will probably be shopping for the afternoon, but I'll be home in time to start cooking dinner. If you need me before that, I'll keep my cell phone on, so you can reach me any time."

"Sure thing, Ran-nee-chan!" Conan happily chirped. "We'll see Genta-kun first and then Ayumi-chan!"

"Alright. Be safe." Bending down once more, Ran placed the briefest of kisses on his forehead.

In that one moment of contact, Shinichi wanted to be able to do something as himself. Something to show how much he cared. Something that wasn't limited by being stuck in the form of a seven-year-old child. But Conan couldn't afford to. He couldn't let Them know he was still alive. So he shoved all those feelings down, squished them into a small box, and buried them. He'd find a way to cope later, but not now.

And just like that, the moment was over.

"Come on, Conan-kun!" Mitsuhiko came up as Ran stood up once more and turned to Sonoko. "Let us go see how our friends are doing!"

Conan gave a childish laugh and turned to the skinny child. "You bet! Race you down the street!" And like a shot, the childish form of Shinichi tore off down the street, the startled squawk of Mitsuhiko behind him, while the not-quite little boy worked to push down something very strong.

The volume of his TV was neither quiet nor loud at the moment, but he was steadfastly ignoring it entirely as he and Mitsuhiko went off to visit the first of their missing friends.

Ran chuckled to herself as Conan raced off with Mitsuhiko to see their friends.

"He's like a mini-Shinichi isn't he?" Sonoko commented, offering her own small laugh.

Oh what a can of worms that comment is, Ran thought to herself. But she wasn't going to think about it. "How do you mean?"

The heiress grabbed Ran's arm and started lightly dragging her towards the bus stop. "Oh, nothing specific. Just that he likes to run around all the time like Shinichi did when he was a kid."

Ran laughed lightly, memories filtering up from the age-shadowed corners of her mind. "I think Shinichi ran a lot as a kid because I was usually chasing him to give him a good karate chop."

"Oh yeah!" Sonoko bubbled. "Shinichi was into karate as a kid as well, wasn't he?"

Ran nodded, remembering all the classes the two of them had been in before soccer lured her friend away. "Yes. The sensei and I were sorry to see him leave for soccer. He had a lot of potential. He probably could have won matches like I did once I knew enough."

"Really?" The heiress raised an eyebrow as they sat down to wait for the bus.

"Oh yes," she replied. "Shinichi, even as a kid, always had very powerful kicks. I remember our sensei working a lot with him on making sure his kicks were perfect." Old images, not recalled in years filtered through Ran's mind with a great deal of fondness. Flashes of a seven-year-old Shinichi in a karate gi, practicing kick after kick. Flying kicks, split kicks, roundhouse kicks…

"If he had such strong legs," Sonoko turned to look at Ran, "why didn't your sensei work on his arms? If his legs where fine, doesn't that mean he needed work on his arms?"

Ran frowned, searching back through her recollections. "Shinichi's arms were just fine, Sonoko. He had the same power as anyone else in our class with his fists. But his legs were just more powerful."

"Probably from running from you so much."

"Sonoko!"

"Sorry. Continue."

Ran let out a long sigh. "Sonoko, you know that even in karate people have different, personal styles. Personal fighting preferences are just like fingerprints, unique to each person. If Shinichi had continued in karate and not left for soccer, his style probably would have been very kick-oriented. In karate, you always use your own strengths to find and then use your enemy's weakness." Ran leaned back and glanced out for the bus. "If Shinichi were to take up karate again, his kicks would probably be even more powerful now because of all the training he's done in soccer."

Sonoko looked at her with an odd look. "Why Ran-chan, are you jealous of Shinichi's legs?"

Ran turned scarlet.

"W-w-what?"

"Or is it that you just admire his legs? I never noticed before, but you do tend to look at a guy's legs instead of his face or even his butt."

"Sonoko!"

The heiress shrugged. "I'm just saying that you like to look at legs. That's no reason to get upset." Sonoko wiggled her eyebrows. "Unless of course, the only legs you like to look at are Shinichi-kun's?"

"Sonoko!"

She only laughed as Ran got redder and redder.

Conversation slipped back into less-embarrassing territory on the bus ride to the mall; talk of how the school day had gone, how various friends were, and Sonoko filling Ran in with the latest gossip. They laughed, bought ice cream cones and chatted as they went from store to store.

"Come on, Ran, I can't be the only one buying things!"

Ran gave a small laugh. "Sorry, Sonoko, but my Dad didn't solve as many cases this month. Money is a little tight."

"But you were just saying how he solved this big case!"

"With that nail-polish killer?" Ran asked. Sonoko gave a brief nod and Ran continued, "Yes, but it was something he stumbled upon again. Nobody offered to pay him and the people involved weren't really making enough money to pay for the case." Ran let out a small sigh. "Normally, after my dad solves a case, one of the people involved is grateful enough to pay him for it, but that didn't happen this time."

Sonoko shrugged. "Then I'll loan you some money."

"No, Sonoko-chan," Ran said firmly. "I appreciate the offer, really I do, but neither my dad nor I will accept handouts."

"Oh come on," Sonoko jibed, "it's just money! Really, I can afford it and I want to."

"No, Sonoko." Ran smiled. "That really is very kind of you. But you know my dad. He has a lot of pride in what he does. He will never take money from you just to make ends meet."

"Fine, fine."

Ran let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll just have to hire him for something."

"Oh, Sonoko!"

"Oooooooh, Ran, look at that!" And just like that, Sonoko was dragging Ran into a store before Ran could register what was going on and the complete turn around in conversation.

"Eh?"

"Oh, they have it in red! You should so wear this when you next see that Shinichi jerk!"

Something was placed in Ran's hands and she looked down.

"..."

"Isn't it just perfect?"

"..."

Sonoko bubbled on. "You'd probably need a red dress over it; I know we saw one that would look good on you a few stores back. Some heels - I'd go back for the heels, maybe with some red accents. You wouldn't even need much jewelry..."

"..."

"This is, of course, assuming Shinichi gives you some warning before he pops back into your life, but I know you don't like me talking about that. So we just have to prepare you for when he does show up, don't we?"

"..."

"Ran? Are you okay?"

"..."

"If you don't like it, we can try this one."

"..."

Of course, by now, Ran was as red as the silky garment in her hand. It was silky, red, and just this side of sheer. A slip, definitely a slip to wear under a dress. A sexy, lingerie/negligee slip. And in Sonoko's hand as an... alternate option... was a set of red panties and bra that would, no doubt, leave very little to the imagination with all that (or should she say how little) lace.

"Ran?"

"SONOKO!"

Genta's apartment was a few blocks down from Mitsuhiko, so on their way, Mitsuhiko, naturally, insisted on dropping a few things off at his home and leaving a note for his family on his plans for the afternoon so that they wouldn't worry. It was a thoughtfulness that Conan usually associated with Ayumi, but he was rather proud to see Mitsuhiko display the trait. Granted, it was probably inherited from spending so much time with the sensible girl and a subtle attempt from him to try and court her before Haibara arrived, but it was a good habit to get into and, from a detective's point of view, a good way to keep track of whereabouts.

As they walked to Genta's building, Mitsuhiko's energy from earlier was starting to evaporate as honest worry started to take over again.

"Do you really think they'll be okay?"

"There's only one way to find out," Conan replied. He would have rather assured his friend that both Ayumi and Genta were fine and that nothing was wrong, but he didn't really have the strength for that at the moment. The other members of his little detective band weren't stupid. They understood that things could go wrong in a heartbeat, even if Shinichi did his best to protect them from many of the grimmer aspects of detective work, like checking bodies and the like. Both of them had discussed earlier that for Genta and Ayumi to be absent was unusual and warranted looking into. Offering words to contradict that now would just be cold.

"I know," Mitsuhiko said quietly, watching his own steps. "But if they are not, then this is going to be serious, is it not?"

Conan looked over with Shinichi's eyes. With solemn honesty, he replied, "If something is wrong, that doesn't mean we don't investigate it with anything less than our best. It means we do better than our best to make sure that Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan are both fine and stop the culprit, if there is one, from hurting anyone else." He reached over and gave Mitsuhiko's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "We do what we always do."

The skinny boy looked up, just as solemn, and gave a firm nod.

"But," Conan offered with a slight grin, "we may not have to go that far."

Mitsuhiko's mouth twitched into a broad smile. Without warning, he took off running. "Race you!" he called back in a good imitation of Conan from earlier. Shinichi gave a wry chuckle before taking off after his friend.

They raced all the way up the stairs to Genta's apartment, laughing and teasing back and forth as Conan, unsurprisingly, took the lead until he tripped on the top step and Mitsuhiko overtook him. The impromptu competition stopped with both wheezing and knocking on Genta's door at the same time.

Their laughter ceased when the door opened. Towering over them was a man easily four times Conan's diminutive height and twice as wide as Genta himself. With no neck and a rather distinctly pointed head, there was no doubt as to who this was, though Conan had never met him directly.

"Good afternoon Kojima-san," Mitsuhiko bowed politely, obviously familiar with Genta's family as the large boy's best friend. Conan blinked briefly before also bowing and stuttering out his own greeting. "We have some school work for Genta-kun and we have missed him for the past few days. Would you mind terribly if we were to see him?"

Conan turned his head to hide a grin. Mitsuhiko was unfailingly polite, and its ability to disarm even some of their toughest foes with the sheer unexpectedness of it, was just a splendid weapon in the freckled boy's arsenal that he wasn't even aware of.

Above them, Genta's father blinked. Without a word, the large man stepped aside and let the two of them in. Conan's sharp eyes took in the living space, observing and deducing in the few steps over to the low table. By the time they sat, Shinichi wasn't liking the conclusions he was coming to.

"Kojima-san," he said quietly. "Genta-kun's at the hospital, isn't he? And he has been for at least a day."

Genta's father's face twisted painfully before staring down at Conan stoically. Beside him, Mitsuhiko's eyes widened, once again looking around the room.

"Boy, you're that Conan that Genta's always speaking about, aren't you?"

Conan nodded solemnly. "Genta-kun told us that you usually work afternoons and evenings so that you can spend the mornings with his mother. Yet you were the one who opened the door. Also, the room is a mess and-"

"Kojima-baa-san always keeps the house spotless," Mitsuhiko spoke, eyes still darting around the room.

The shrunken detective nodded to his freckled friend. "Very good, Mitsuhiko-kun," Conan offered. "What else have you noticed; you know this place better than me."

Craning his neck, Mitsuhiko looked around some more. "There's a suitcase on Genta-kun's futon, you can see it from here. And some of Genta-kun's clothes are in it, looks like pajamas, and some pillows, and that Yaiba doll he likes so much." He turned around to the low table again. "But that just means that Genta-kun's going on a trip, right?" There was no denying the hopeful edge in his voice.

Conan shook his head sadly. "There aren't any clothes in it, just pajamas. It looks like Kojima-san here just shaved, in the middle of the afternoon instead of the morning or evening. The pots in the kitchen sink are only half cleaned and look like they've been there for a day or more. And..." Conan shifted his gaze to Genta's room. "Genta-kun's room looks like a train went through it. Books have been thrown to the floor, some of his prize Yaiba videos look like they've been flung across the room. Genta-kun would never do that."

Mitsuhiko turned to Genta's father. "Was he attacked or something?"

Kojima, who had silently watched Conan run through his observations and deductions, frowned as anguish flitted across his face.

"No," the large man whispered, great fat tears welling in his eyes. "But he is very sick."

Verified.

Shinichi asked, "What happened?"

"The day before yesterday, our little Genta came down with a common cold. It really wasn't anything, but we kept him home to get some rest." Shinichi and Mitsuhiko nodded. "Yesterday, though, he started acting really strange. Thrashing about, nightmares almost, but he was moving around like he was sleepwalking to them. So we took him to the hospital." The giant tears started to spill down Kojima's face. "It's bad. Some sort of bizarre virus. He's in the Intensive Care Unit as we speak. The doctor's kicked me out to get some rest, but I told my wife I'd just pick up a few things and head back."

Kojima used a giant hand to hide his teary eyes from the two boys. "I know that you and Genta are detectives. Look around all you like, I'm heading back to Beika General." He stood up and went into Genta's room, closed the suitcase, and headed for the door. "Mitsuhiko-kun, lock up when you leave."

"Kojima-ojii-san!" Mitsuhiko shouted, standing up. "We will figure out what happened! I promise!"

Genta's father gave a wan, placating smile and left.

The freckled boy scowled. "He knows we are good detectives! But he does not believe in us!"

Conan stood and put a reassuring hand on Mitsuhiko's shoulder. "Don't worry about it," he said. "Let's look around."

The skinny boy nodded. "Where should we start, Conan-kun?"

"Genta-kun's room."

The room did indeed look like a train and been through it, as Shinichi had detailed before. Both Conan and Mitsuhiko looked around, uncertain where to start. Normally both would be enthused to look around for clues, if any existed, but this was Genta-kun's room. His private haven. It suddenly felt almost like peeking where you weren't supposed to.

Conan broke the silence first. "Let's put his room back to normal. It will be good for him when he comes home, and it will give us a good chance to catalogue everything he has and doesn't have."

Mitsuhiko gulped, unexpectedly nervous at the prospect of categorizing his best friend's items and personal effects, but to his credit, he took a deep breath and started by pulling off his slippers and padding to the futon in the middle of the room. "He always sleeps on his back, when he isn't tossing and turning," he offered as he tugged at the giant comforter. As the boy shook it out to fold it, several bits and things fell out from under it, originally lost in the depths of its mismatched folds. Conan pulled off his own slippers to study the items that fell. He picked up a magazine and two comic books, as well as a chipped cup that, from the scent of it, held tea. There were no stains on the futon, so Genta-kun had likely drunk it all before falling asleep.

Under the blanket was a cheap, handheld videogame and a more expensive Nintendo DS. Conan flipped open the battery case, but there were batteries in it. Turning it on, Conan listened to the long familiar theme of the Yaiba series as the characters danced on the screen while the videogame loaded.

"He loves that game," Mitsuhiko offered, finally managing to fold the blanket up sufficiently.

"He must have played for hours," Conan offered, powering it down. "To say nothing of reading, and then drinking tea to sleep." He blinked, something catching his eye at Mitsuhiko's feet. Crouching down, he picked up a plastic case, the heavy plastic ripped and ready to scratch unprotected skin. Conan eyed the odd shape of the case, having seen similar plastic wraps to hold things like headphones or iPods or other (often electronic) amenities. "Do you know what was in this?" the boy asked, holding it up to Mitsuhiko.

"Looks like it held a toy," the beady-eyed boy offered, looking around.

Conan poked at the pallet. There were no strong scents other than sweat, and underneath when he lifted the pallet he saw more comics and magazine. The perfect distractions for an elementary student sick in bed.

"His case broke," Mitsuhiko spoke up.

Conan looked up. "His what?"

"His treasure case," the boy repeated, standing before a small assemble-yourself bookcase that had been toppled over. "He kept his treasures here," he explained, digging his fingers under the shelving and trying to lift it up. "You know: his Yaiba DVD collection, his favorite CDs, his comics, the Yabai action figures..." Grunting, Mitsuhiko was unable to lift the shelf, and so Conan quickly got up to assist. It took both boys a lot of work; neither of them were the looming powerhouses that Genta was, but when the pair finally got it upright, they both stared at the mess underneath.

Everything had been smashed. Many CDs were snapped in half, whole volumes of graphic novels had been torn up and shredded, and the action figures lay in pieces. A mirror lay in shards under the wreckage, and an oddly shaped wood case lay cracked and off to one side, its contents missing. Conan blinked as he recognized the shape of the wood case.

Mitsuhiko noticed it, too. "Hey, that is what was in the plastic," he said, reaching over to pick it up.

"Wait," Shinichi said, stepping in front of the boy and crouching down. "You'll hurt yourself," he offered as explanation as he pulled out a handkerchief and picked up the case. It was cracked, one corner crunched into another, making it impossible to open. Conan pulled at it once or twice, but he had neither the leverage nor the strength to pry it open. Frowning, he put it back down, this time on the shelf, and turned back to the boy. "Let's get the rest of his room straightened out, and then go back to this," he said. "It's too messy for us to do without gloves and dustbins."

Mitsuhiko nodded, staring at the shattered collection. "He is going to be very mad when he sees this," he sighed in his proper tones.

They continued sorting through the room. Mitsuhiko focused on putting Genta's treasures back on the shelf, knowing where they went. The freckled boy did his best to put things back properly, but some of the shattered items just couldn't be put back correctly. Conan, meanwhile, dug through the other bits of the room, mainly old laundry that hadn't been done yet.

Of course, what Conan was digging through wasn't doing much. If he really wanted something from clothes, he'd need to see the clothes that Genta was wearing when he went to the hospital. But he still looked through everything, noting every little detail.

Conan was surprised, however, when he lifted an old T-shirt and found a book. Kneeling down, he gently picked it up, memories swirling around him. Back when he'd been a kid the first time round, his father had given him a series of books that were based off of Sherlock Holmes. They were simpler to read and the mysteries where still challenging. Shinichi had spent many an afternoon with his father entranced in the books, picking up clues, and trying to put together the mystery before Holmes did.

Genta had one of the first volumes, and there was a bookmark halfway through. Sticking out from the pages were sticky notes with Genta's messy handwriting listing what might be important or where a clue pointed.

Conan just stared at it for a while, feeling something in him tighten and loosen at the same time. These three kids: Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi, as annoying and irritating and stubborn as they were, these three kids were his. Shinichi gulped down something in his throat. He was a seventeen-year-old, stuck in a seven-year-old body and he had three children. No, they weren't Shinichi's in any sort of biological sense, or even through adoption. Hell, he was too young to even think about marriage (though he always knew who he'd be with). He was at the age where he should be pondering what college he'd go to and how to best pursue his dream of being a detective. But these three detectives-in-training were like his kids. Shinichi watched over them, trained them, taught them, and took great pride in their successes. They'd all worked admirably well when he'd been shot, and though they could be distracted as kids could be, they all looked to him for advice and guidance like he was a knowledgeable figure. Like a father, in a bizarre sort of way.

And, like a kid who was trying to please his dad, Genta had gone out to get a book to learn more about detecting.

And now, Genta was in the hospital.

Shinichi swallowed the lump in his throat again. This was too much of a realization for him to deal with right now. He needed to be alone to sort through all the emotions that were rising up and filtering through his heart and mind. The same way he needed to be alone whenever his feelings for Ran got too strong for him to deal with.

So, like he did with Ran earlier that day, Shinichi stomped all his feelings down, shoved it into a box, and buried it. Conan took a deep breath and turned to the freckled boy. "Hey, Mitsuhiko-kun? Where does this go?"

The two boys continued searching through the room. Other notable items included a pair of bedroom slippers that had some odd flaking on them, several juice boxes and another cup that smelled of tea, and a few extra pillows that Mitsuhiko said were usually saved for guests. A bottle of aspirin appeared to have been kicked under a table, and there were various wrappers from whatever cold medicine Genta's parents had been giving him.

Several observations. But deductions weren't helpful.

"What have we learned from all of this?" Conan asked Mitsuhiko.

The skinny boy frowned. "All the juice boxes indicate that Genta-kun was very thirsty."

Conan nodded, looking around the straightened room with a critical eye. "What about the pillows and aspirin?"

"Probably that he was aching, like when you have the flu." Mitsuhiko frowned. "But we already knew he was sick. His dad thought so; our teacher believed so. Genta-kun's even in the hospital."

"True," Conan agreed, "but a little verification is nice." He held the slippers in his hands and turned them over. "There are a few things that are fishy, though."

The young detective-in-training looked over to Genta's treasure shelf. "Like him destroying his treasures?"

"Yeah. And I don't know of any cold or common bug that makes the skin dry enough as to flake." Conan pulled out a pocketknife to scrape some of the flakes from the slippers into a plastic bag. He'd have Professor Agasa run a few tests on it. "Dehydration to that level is severe, and given how much Genta-kun's clearly been drinking, dehydration isn't the cause of flaking skin." It was a piece of evidence that didn't add up and it raised the volume on Conan's invisible, constant companion of a television. Something was decidedly off about this. Very definitive clues, but no connections. Plenty of observations, but not enough deductions. "I wish we could see the clothes Genta-kun was wearing when they brought him to the hospital. But they probably cut those off of him when he was admitted, depending on how bad he was. And from what Kojima-san said, it was bad."

Mitsuhiko nodded solemnly. "Should we visit Ayumi-chan next, or go to the hospital to see Genta-kun for more clues?"

"Ayumi-chan," Conan replied without hesitation. "I doubt they'd let visitors see Genta-kun right now, just family." He put Genta's slipper down and looked over at his friend. Mitsuhiko was looking a little pale. And torn. Two friends were sick, one of which was seriously so. No doubt the freckled boy was wondering which one should be a higher priority. Conan sympathized with the dilemma. But something about what his detective TV was saying was telling him that they needed to go see Ayumi first. If nothing else, the two of them could inform her and her family of what sort of symptoms to look out for.

Mitsuhiko glanced at his watch. "We had better get going. It is getting late as it is."

The shrunken detective nodded.

Ayumi's apartment was almost four blocks away and the sun was sinking lower and lower into the horizon as Conan and Mitsuhiko made their way up the stairs. The air was starting to get chilly and Conan wished for a brief moment that he had brought a warmer jacket. On the way over, both he and Mitsuhiko had been quiet. The news that Genta was in the hospital and evidently in a serious condition was difficult to take. Mitsuhiko was clearly worried and Conan kept going over the evidence he'd seen in Genta's room over and over in his head, looking at it from every angle he could think of.

Unfortunately, it all boiled down to the simple fact that he just didn't have enough clues to work with yet. He would need more to discern if this was just a simple illness or something more sinister. But to get more clues would mean that someone else would have to get sick, that someone possibly being Ayumi, and Shinichi really didn't want any more of his kids to get sick like this.

Ayumi's mother answered the door, surprised to see the two boys there.

"Oh. Mitsuhiko-kun, Conan-kun." Yoshida-san gave a small smile. "Came to visit Ayumi-chan, did you?"

Conan pasted on a halfway-smile and nodded. "We brought some worksheets from the teacher. We miss both her and Genta-kun."

"Genta-kun?" Yoshida asked, stepping away from the door and gesturing for them to come in. "He's still out? I remember Ayumi-chan mentioning he was sick the day before we kept her home."

Conan nodded again, noting out of the corner of his eye how Mitsuhiko stayed in the background, perfectly willing to let Conan take the lead. Well, Shinichi wasn't going to allow that. He, by necessity, was often the one dealing with adults, since he really was an adult in a kid's body. But it was time for some of his detectives-in-training to learn how to present. This may not be the best of cases to force one of them to the foreground, but something about this situation was warning Shinichi that he was going to have to be even further below the radar than he usually was (which wasn't much).

"Mitsuhiko-kun and I just came from Genta-kun's."

"Oh?" Yoshida asked politely, offering tea. "How is he?"

Conan looked to Mitsuhiko. The freckled boy caught Conan's eye and briefly shook his head. Conan, with his back to Ayumi's mother, looked at his skinny friend with Shinichi's eyes.

Mitsuhiko gave a small sigh.

"He was not home, Yoshida-obaa-san," he started, glancing back at Conan. The mini-detective gave an encouraging nod. "We found Kojima-ojii-san packing a bag with Genta-kun's pajamas. He said he was heading back to the hospital to give the pajamas to Genta-kun."

"Oh, my!" Ayumi's mother placed the teapot back on the stove and looked with pity at the two boys. "Do they know what he's caught? A bad case of the flu perhaps?"

Mitsuhiko shook his head. "Kojima-ojii-san did not tell us. We looked around Genta-kun's room, but it was strange. It looked like he had been on some sort of rampage and had wrecked part of his room. Based on what we found, we can," Mitsuhiko glanced at Conan again, struggling briefly for words, "...we can safely assume that Genta-kun was extremely thirsty during his sickness. There were a lot of pillows in the room, and it indicates hat he was probably aching, but his feet were apparently flaking, which is very unusual for a cold or flu. Kojima-ojii-san also said something about Genta-kun just suddenly destroying his room like he did not know where he was."

The freckled boy found his tea very interesting.

Good job, Mitsuhiko-kun, Conan praised. He covertly looked over to Ayumi's mother to gauge her reaction. She seemed the concerned adult, pitying them for having a sick friend. Until Mitsuhiko mentioned about the symptoms that Genta had apparently been displaying. Yoshida's eyes swept over to Ayumi's room. Shinichi mentally nodded to himself. Ayumi's mother had noticed something similar.

"Can we please see Ayumi-chan?" Conan asked, trying to put on his best childish-puppy-eye face.

Yoshida looked vaguely over at her daughter's room and nodded. "Yes," she murmured. "Her sister should be home soon... The two of us need to talk about a few things."

Conan understood that look and tone. Ayumi's mother and sister were going to have to discuss options and whether or not to take a pair of seven-year-old boys seriously, or if they could afford to just keep doing things as they had been. After all, Mitsuhiko had just dumped a lot of information and it needed to be discussed before it could be acted upon.

Taking their cue, the small boys went down the small, narrow hall of the apartment and politely knocked on the door that Ayumi's name hung from. Conan noticed that Mitsuhiko gulped, looking almost anxious. "What's wrong?" the boy asked.

"It is... It is a girl's room. Will I not get in trouble?"

Conan couldn't hold back a giggle, the noise coming out as a rude snort as he clapped his hand over his mouth. "I go in Ran-nee-chan's room all the time," he offered. The irony of it was not lost on the seventeen year old; that he was forbidden from her room as a young man, but perfectly acceptable as a boy. In some ways, he had much more freedom in this form, and in others... he shoved the sudden bitterness aside and knocked again before carefully sliding the door open.

"Sorry for intruding," he offered.

Slowly, the two boys entered. Mitsuhiko fervently tried to keep his eyes to the floor; fearful of some kind of retribution for the transgression he was performing.

The room was nothing like Ran's. Hers, even as a child, did not have the girly frill that one expected of the female gender. Ran's room was geared towards education, martial arts, and books of her own liking - there was even, Conan had discovered, a small collection of the Sherlock Holmes series in a bottom shelf. The only hints of "girly-ness" were the occasional flower vase or romance novel. Ayumi was the exact opposite.

The room, while not blaringly so, had a lot of pink frills to it that Mitsuhiko seemed to involuntarily shudder at. There was a sliding glass door that lead to a small balcony and all the shelves in the room had various dolls, stuffed animals, childish make-up and wigs to practice hairdressing on. Even Conan had to wince a little as the room shouted "LITTLE GIRL" loud and clear.

Turning to Mitsuhiko, Conan whispered, "Look around like we did in Genta-kun's room. See if you find anything odd. We don't want to wake up Ayumi-chan yet. Let her rest."

The skinny boy nodded, carefully going over to the shelves. He glanced back at Conan rather reluctantly and then to Ayumi rather embarrassedly before carefully pulling things off the shelves one by one, looking them over, and returning them.

Conan gave a small smile of pride and turned to Ayumi's dresser and nightstand. Better him than Mitsuhiko to go through this. It was necessary, but if Ran caught him going through Ayumi's clothes, either as himself or his abbreviated version, there would be hell to pay. In the back of his mind, Conan could hear cries of "Pervert!" and the oncoming approach of a fist as he went through the underwear draw as quickly as possible. Conan rather doubted Mitsuhiko and his polite nature could survive the scandal.

Grateful that that little task was over, he turned to the nightstand and the garbage can beside it. Conan paused. Before he even opened the drawer in the nightstand, he immediately bent over the trashcan and pulled out a handkerchief to pull something out.

It was plastic, ripped open with sharp edges. He'd seen something similar in Genta's room. Where the shape of Genta's matched a wooden case in the room, Ayumi's shape was different. It was probably nothing. But Conan's mind had latched onto the fact. This was Japan, after all. It was a wealthy country and its citizens could find all sorts of technological bits to satisfy their needs. It was rare to find a person who didn't have a cell phone nowadays. Genta had two electronic games to keep himself busy while sick, so Ayumi getting something wasn't impossible. But the timing, the same way that both Genta and Ayumi had gotten sick so closely together, was raising the volume of the TV for Shinichi.

Genta's ripped plastic didn't contain plastic. Its shape matched a wooden box. What had been in the wooden box was unknown. The question was, what did Ayumi's ripped plastic match up with? The shape indicated a doll and Shinichi whirled around, his sharp eyes quickly scanning the room. It wasn't anything near Mitsuhiko. It lay with Ayumi.

The girl lay sleeping in the middle of her bed, encased in a menagerie of stuffed toys. Dolls, tigers, bears, Pokemon, and even a stuffed Yaiba doll that she clutched tightly. Shinichi took note of the dolls, comparing them with the ripped plastic that he carefully put back in the garbage can. There was a clear hierarchy on Ayumi's bed, the most treasured surrounding her head where she could easily see them, while the mid ranked or larger stuffed toys were around her body as pseudo pillows. The disliked dolls collected by her feet. The king of the collection, the stuffed Yaiba, was the only one whose size and shape matched the ripped plastic.

"I did not know Yaiba had stuffed dolls," Mitsuhiko observed in disgust, having glanced over. He paled slightly after saying it, still glancing around for some kind of retribution.

Considering Yaiba was a Shonen, a boy's anime, Conan was surprised, too. He leaned over the bed next to Ayumi and studied the doll, looking for a tag to mark the manufacturer. Frowning, he even went so far as to gently pry the doll from the sleeping girl's grasp. He heard the disapproving, "Conan-kun..." from Mitsuhiko as the boy walked over quietly, but only barely, as his focus tightened around the doll, his mind trying to reach for a deduction he didn't yet understand.

"Conan... -kun?"

The boy blinked and realized that Ayumi was awake.

"It was his idea!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed nervously.

"Hey, hey," the boy replied flatly. He turned back to the girl. "How are you feeling?" he asked in a more gentle voice.

"... Sick," she murmured.

Conan half grinned in response, before Shinichi's face fell across his young features. "Ayumi-chan, where did you get this doll?" he asked.

Her eyes were slightly glazed, most likely from fever, as she looked at the doll. "Gift..." she answered.

"From whom?" Mitsuhiko demanded, incensed at the idea.

"Give it back... 's mine..." Ayumi pushed herself to her elbows and reached for the treasured stuffed doll. Conan only heard it dimly as he continued to examine the doll, still looking for a manufacturer's tag and growing more suspicious when he couldn't find one. He started looking under the stuffed Yaiba's clothes.

"Ayumi-chan, this was custom made; hand made. Who gave this to you?"

"Give it back..." she insisted, her voice a little stronger. "Give it back... Give it... Give him back! Give Conan-kun back!"

Both boys blinked, Conan's attention finally pulled from the doll. His eyes took in everything, the details automatically being catalogued and itemized; from the glazed eyes to the flushed, fevered face to the empty tea cup hidden under a stuffed tiger, to the empty water bottle under the blanket, and to the cracked, dry hand that Ayumi used to demand the Yaiba doll.

"Give Conan-kun back, you bad man!" Her voice was hoarse, but the volume was loud enough for her mother's voice to distantly sound from another room in the apartment. The girl lunged - a verb Conan would never have attached to the girl - and her dry hands moved to grab the Yaiba doll back. "Give him back!"

"Ayumi-chan, that is Conan-ku-" Mitsuhiko was not given the chance to speak. As he stepped forward to touch her shoulder she gave a shrill, ear-piercing screech. Shinichi, completely startled, stumbled back, an inbred fear of Ran being angry asserting and transplanting itself to the image of the fevered Ayumi. The girl stood to her full height - much taller on the bed - still screaming, before taking a shaky step forward and staggering.

"Give Conan-kun back!" She jumped off the bed and tackled the shocked Shinichi. On instinct, he caught her and took the brunt of the fall back onto the floor, the Yaiba doll flung away as he caught the girl.

"Ayumi!" The mother was there, kneeling down and wrapping her daughter in a warm embrace and pulling her off the dumbfounded, diminutive detective. "Ayumi, calm down, sweetie, calm down. Ssh, it's okay, it's okay."

"It's not okay!" the girl screamed, struggling weakly against her mother's grip. "That bad man's taken Conan-kun! Don't let him get away! Don't let-!"

"Ayumi-chan!" Mitsuhiko said, stepping in front of her, "That is Conan-kun!" He reached forward to place a hand on her shoulder again. "He is right-" But the little girl harshly clawed at the boy's face - just out of reach - not recognizing him either. Grabbing his offered hand, she bit into it and scratched at his arm. Mitsuhiko retracted immediately, backpedaling and tripping over Conan, who was still on the floor, clutching at his hand as his already pale face became nearly translucent.

All this in a matter of seconds. Finally, Shinichi's mind jump-started. Quickly, he rolled over and grabbed the Yaiba doll he had dropped. Standing, he stepped forward in confidence and knelt down, looking up at the girl held tightly in her mother's arms. "I'm not a bad man," he said in soft tones. "I was... I was just having a talk with Conan-kun." He offered the Yaiba doll to the girl. "He was telling me how helpful you are when you're solving mysteries, but now he wants to come back to you."

Ayumi, sniffling and with tears streaming down her face, shakily took the Yaiba doll, immediately clutching it to herself. Her glazed eyes still glared balefully at him, though, and she bit out a vicious, "I hate you."

It cut into Conan in a way he hadn't expected, and for a moment he just stared at her, hurt blooming in his heart. He lowered his gaze, his shoulders unconsciously rising in shame, before he said in a low voice. "I don't blame you. It must have been very scary for you. But you should let Mitsuhiko-kun talk to you; he was just as scared as you were."

Her fevered eyes turned slightly, widening as she saw her scratched and petrified friend. "Mitsuhiko-kun?"

"A... Ayumi-chan..." the boy whispered, before carefully and hesitantly reaching out and hugging her. The little girl held the doll closely with one hand while the other rubbed at her tears, dry skin flaking off her fingers as she did so. With one last, hateful glare towards Conan, Ayumi relaxed into her mother's embrace and Mitsuhiko carefully pulled away, worry etched on his face.

Shinichi took a deep breath and slowly backed away. He registered at last that Ayumi's sister was in the hall, staring in shock at the scene. The detective trapped in a boy's body stuffed his hands in his pockets, to hide the shaking.

"You'd better call an ambulance," he said in a dull, tired tone, sounding more like his teen self than his boy self.

When the phone rang, Ran went to the sink to wash her hands. She had just been starting to cook dinner, when the annoying ring sliced through the air. Her father, undoubtedly, was watching television and therefore "too busy" to pick up the phone, leaving her to do it.

 _So help me; if that's another sales call..._

Conan would be home soon, and Ran knew that then she'd have two hungry mouths to feed. She had gotten home late as it was because Sonoko had dragged her into a lingerie shop; she had nearly _died_ of embarrassment! With dinner being off to a late start, she was expecting complaints from the two boys of the house and she really didn't have the time to fend off people who _always_ called during dinner hours to sell some random product they didn't need.

"Mouri Detective Agency," she greeted politely.

"Ran-chan?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Ayumi's mother. I believe we've met on a few occasions."

Ran's eyes widened and a trickle of worry slid down her spine. "Yes, how can I help you?"

"Conan-kun needs a ride home and I'm afraid neither my daughter nor I can do that."

"Oh?" Ran blinked. "He should be able to walk home from your apartment. It's not that far."

"Sorry, dear," Yoshida sighed over the phone. "I'm so scattered right now I'm not making sense. We're at Beika General Hospital."

"EH?"

"Conan-kun and Mitsuhiko-kun came with us when we took Ayumi to the hospital. Could you come pick him up? I..." Ayumi's mother took a moment as her voice wavered. "I'm sorry. Things have just been so crazy that I can't look after children right now."

"I understand," Ran said quickly, "I'm on my way." She hung up the phone and ran into the living area. "Dad! Hurry! We need to go!"

Her father, Kogoro, glanced up from his precious television. "Now what?" he grumbled.

"We need to pick up Conan-kun!"

"That freeloader?" Kogoro looked mournfully at his television. "Let him walk."

"Dad! He's at the hospital!"

"Wha? Why?"

"He had to watch a friend of his get transported to the hospital. She's very sick and Conan-kun's probably scared and worried! You have a driver's license, so get off that sofa," she loomed over him, fist raised, "get your coat and shoes," she brought her fist down, "and take us to the hospital _now_!" and as the fist connected with a pillow, it scattered feathers into the air.

Her father gave a weak "Yes!" before stumbling off the couch to find his keys and coat.

The drive to the hospital seemed interminable. There was a major accident - somewhere - and the rubberneckers and morbidly curious caused full-stop traffic for miles. Kogoro was muttering a long litany of offenses under his breath, his diatribe including words such as: "Freeloader," and "Sponge," and "No account, good-for-nothing brat," paired with phrases like "The things he puts me through," "The trouble I go to," and "For what? No thanks for the man of the house."

Ran wasn't listening to him, and frankly, all the cars honking and his intelligently low tones kept her from picking out more than phrases. To be sure, her mind wasn't on anything about her father, it was entirely about a little boy who had fallen into her life.

It was overwhelming her; her worry for Conan. No doubt the boy would remember when he was shot and how scary it was. He'd been so brave at the time; the other children had regaled her with how level-headed he had remained, even in such pain as he had been, and how he had calmly lead them out of danger in that cave - a summer adventure that had gone excitedly, horribly, frighteningly wrong. It had been that resolute calmness in dire emergencies, then and many other times, which had first put the inkling in her head.

For so long now, she'd harbored suspicions and denials about him. Despite repeated evidence to the contrary, there was always a portion of her that had latched onto the idea that the cute, adorable, and far-too-intelligent Conan-kun was her dearest friend and person who held her heart: Shinichi. She wasn't entirely certain how the suspicion had become such a strong belief. After all, it was impossible for a human being to lose ten years of age. But once the thought had been created, peculiar things about one seven-year-old Edogawa Conan started to make sense.

Belying the calmness in the face of danger, there was the near countless other similarities that precipitated the suspicion. Little Conan, for one thing, was far too intelligent for his age. She watched him do his homework, taking time to work out math problems, reading something slowly, but it was the times she didn't watch, the times she was in the kitchen or he was in his room, when the schoolwork was mysteriously done in a flash and decidedly perfect in computation, explanation, spelling, grammar, and even embellishment. That perfection, however, was often hidden in erase lines, as what was loosely considered more "grade equivalent" answers were written over them. Ran knew how intelligent Shinichi was and how smart both his parents were, and so she had at first just filed it away as a genetic trait. Conan clearly knew how smart he was, and trying to hide it was natural, Ran rationalized, so he wouldn't stand out so much and be picked on by the other children. She did wonder if he shouldn't be put in an accelerated program, but she remembered what even someone as arrogant as Shinichi had gone through when he was younger. It may not have affected _him_ , being called all those names and the ridicule he faced, but Ran was angry and hurt for him, and she didn't want that stigma for Conan.

Secondly were the mannerisms. The hands in the pockets, the ever-sparkling look of curiosity, even how the boy ate. When Ran had noticed that Conan twirled his chopsticks as he ate, she openly stared, because it was a habit unique to Shinichi. Even _she_ , a martial arts master, did not have the dexterity to spin and wheedle chopsticks and other silverware around her fingers of even one hand. To see a seven-year-old, distantly related cousin do _just that_ was jarring. There was also the arrogant smirk - something Conan didn't show often, but just enough for Ran to double take whenever she saw it, because it was _Shinichi's_ face when that smirk crossed his features. She constantly had to remind herself that it was a fluke, a genetic accident that a distant cousin looked so like the boy she had grown up with and grown to secretly love.

But when it was all added together, mannerisms or looks that were intimately personal, shared only between her and Shinichi, and to see them coming from _Conan_ made her wonder.

She violently shoved those thoughts aside. Conan or a mini-Shinichi the point was that someone important to her had watched a friend be taken away by an ambulance. Shinichi _hated_ it when people were hurt; it was part of why he was so passionate about catching murderers. He couldn't stand being sick either; he'd had no patience for it as a kid and Conan tended to show similar (amazingly similar) feelings. If his friends at school were out sick, Conan would whine about how annoying it was to catch them up. If Kogoro was down with the flu, Conan had zero patience and poked and prodded him if her father needed to do something. The only difference Ran had ever noticed was when she, herself, was sick. Conan was extra thoughtful and considerate, always attempting to do things for her.

She smiled at that thought. Just a few weeks ago she'd had the flu, and Conan had somehow managed to navigate the kitchen and make her favorite soup. The bowl was giant and he could barely hold it as he carried it into her room, and he didn't have enough leverage to lift it onto her bed. She'd been so touched she grabbed him into a fierce hug, and he came away from it distinctly flushed. If it was from embarrassment or something else, she couldn't tell; he quickly ducked his head and mumbled something before escaping the room.

And she started to wonder again.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Ran had expected to just ask for Ayumi's room number and to go there to get Conan. What she certainly _hadn't_ expected was to be told that Ayumi was in the Intensive Care Unit. Both Ran and her father paused at that.

"Is Ayumi-chan really _that_ sick?"

The nurse at the desk shrugged. "Sorry, I don' really know. Are you family?"

"No," Kogoro replied. "But a boy we're taking care of was there when the girl was taken in an ambulance. Her mother called us to come pick him up."

"I see." She offered the two of them a sympathetic smile. "The ICU is on the sixth floor. I'm sure you'll be able to find your boy up there."

"Thank you," Ran replied, heading straight for the elevators. She already knew where the ICU was from when Conan had been shot. He'd spent a day up there after his surgery for monitoring before being moved to the patient wards. Biting a nail, Ran worried about how Conan would be.

She couldn't decide whether to be surprised or not when she found the boy.

He was sitting in a seat, his legs swinging back and forth above the floor, as he held his chin deep in his hand, brow furrowed in thought. The face he wore made her still; it was Shinichi's face, cranial activity being processed in bulk just behind his eyes, the blue orbs darting back and forth in minute gestures, cataloging and working so fast that even his eyes could not keep up. Ran could only stare in wonder, before firmly shaking her head and pushing her suspicions aside. Taking a deep breath, she put on her "Big Sister" face and bent down.

"Conan-kun?"

The small boy started, looking up and blinking at Ran's suddenly larger-than-life face. Something that looked vaguely like panic washed over his face for a fraction of a second before a (seemingly) more natural look of worry settled on his features.

In a small, quiet voice, all Conan said was, "Ran... nee-chan..."

Compassion for this boy swelled within her, no matter who he was. Just the quiet offering of her name said more on how he was affected by the afternoon's events than any other statement could, and Ran didn't hesitate in the slightest to sweep him up into a hug. He stiffened in her arms briefly, having never seemed to like physical contact, before his tiny arms reached up and wrapped around her neck as he buried his head into his shoulder. For a moment, Ran _felt_ something. Something very strong. But it was gone as Conan pulled away and out of her embrace.

"Mitsuhiko-kun's already gone home," he said quietly, turning to look at the doors into the ICU. "I can't see either Genta-kun or Ayumi-chan."

Ran was about to offer some comforting words when what Conan said caught up with her. " _Both_ Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan?" The child nodded morosely, the picture of a boy who had lost his friends. She ran a hand through his hair. "Let's find out what's going on, shall we?"

Conan nodded with a tiny grin before automatically reaching up to hold her hand. Together, they walked over to Kogoro, who was chatting with a very pretty nurse.

Or trying to chat.

To avoid any major problems, Ran reached over with her free hand and yanked at her father's ear. The nurse gave a small, thankful smile and Ran nodded. She gave Conan's hand a squeeze.

"Excuse me, but would you mind if we inquire about a few patients here in the ICU?"

"Not at all," the nurse replied. "Let me know the names and I'll check with the families. Once they give the okay, I'll be happy to answer your questions."

"Kojima Genta-kun and Yoshida Ayumi-chan," Conan replied. "I haven't heard _anything_ since we came with Ayumi-chan to the hospital."

The nurse blinked, looking down at the small boy before leaning over. "I haven't noticed you at all around here. What a well-behaved little boy you are. I'll go check right now on your friends."

With the nurse heading back into ICU, Ran, Conan, and her father were alone in the hall. Ran looked down at the strange little boy that had taken up residence in her life and knelt down to him.

"While she's getting some information, why don't you tell us a little bit about what happened this afternoon, Conan-kun?"

The boy nodded. "Mitsuhiko-kun and I went to see Genta-kun first..."

And thus came the story of finding Genta's father packing pajamas for his son and being told that Genta was in the hospital with some strange symptoms. Following that, Conan and Mitsuhiko rushed over to Ayumi's to check on her, but during the visit Ayumi seemed took a turn for the worst and her mother and sister had taken her here.

"Nobody will tell me anything," Conan said in a soft whine. "All Mitsuhiko-kun and I could do was follow Ayumi-chan's mother and Nee-chan around."

Ran's father muttered something under his breath, but she ignored him. "This must have been very scary for you, Conan-kun."

"There's just _no_ information." And for a moment, Conan's face held frustration. Strong, sharp, and painful frustration. And in that moment, it was Shinichi she was looking at instead of a seven-year-old boy. Ran mentally shook herself.

"Boy, have you been pestering the doctors and nurses here in your attempt to play detective?" Kogoro growled.

"I'm _not_ playing!" the boy retorted, his eyes fierce even behind his glasses.

"Dad, really," Ran chided quickly, coming to the boy's defense. "Now isn't the time to be picking on him; two of his friends are in intensive care!"

"I'm not going to coddle some free-loading-"

Ran flattened her gaze. "Dad..." she said in a low voice.

Kogoro smartly paled and took a step back before trying to shrug the reaction off and stuffing a hand into a pocket and trying to look more grown up. It failed, however, considering his voice was actually whining when he said, "We got the brat, can't we just go home now?"

"No!" Conan interjected before Ran could open her mouth. "Not before I know what's going on!" She looked down at the boy, his fierce and determined eyes so similar to Shinichi that she blinked. It belied his high-pitched, boyish voice, the plaintive tone; and she had to wonder which told the truth, the voice or the eyes.

Regardless, the demand was a reasonable one, and so Ran reassured him. "It's okay, Conan-kun, we're not going anywhere until at least the nurse comes back, okay?"

He looked up at her with gratitude of the highest caliber, before turning a smug grin to her father and sticking his tongue out at him. The adult promptly knocked him on the noggin, shouting explicative after explicative before stomping off, back to muttering about waiting in the car.

It wasn't long before the nurse returned, followed by Yoshida-san, Ayumi's mother.

"Ran-chan?"

"Yoshida-san!" Ran exclaimed, rushing over to the older woman. "How are you? What's been happening? We've been so worried!"

"Thank you for coming," she replied, accepting Ran as the young teen took the older woman's hand in hers. "I'm sorry to have worried you..."

"No, no, think nothing of it. How is Ayumi-chan?"

"She's stabilized, they say," Yoshida-san answered, the two of them walking down the hall. Conan, darting ahead, reached up and pushed the paddle-sized button that opened the automatic doors to the ICU, scooting in before the doors had fully swung open. Ran internally smiled at the childishness of the motions before returning her attention to Ayumi's mother. "Her temperature was starting to get dangerously high, but they've lowered it enough that she's not in any danger. We've only been here a few hours; they've just finished giving her a battery of tests, so we don't know for sure what she has."

"Ne, ne," Conan interjected, his voice soft in respect for the situation, "Which ward is Ayumi-chan's?"

The mother looked down, blinking as if trying to process the question, before saying, "Ward Three, over there." Conan darted off again.

"Has she been sick very long?" Ran asked.

"Only a few days," the mother replied. "We all thought she had a bad cold, or perhaps the flu, but then this afternoon..." Pain crushed the woman's face, and Ran was afraid to ask what had happened. Yoshida-san hid her face behind the curtain of her hand, fighting to maintain control. Ran patiently gave her time, glancing over to see little Conan hopping up to the bed where Ayumi lay.

The girl looked small in the mechanical bed, two IVs in her tiny arm, and a cool cloth on her forehead. Ran remembered the day after Conan's surgery. He'd been on a respirator while he was in ICU being monitored, giving his lungs a rest while his body took time to heal. That had been almost too painful to watch, seeing the tube connect from a giant machine on one end and to a _child's_ mouth and deep into the lungs in another - made even worse because of her suspicions that it was _Shinichi_ on a respirator. Ayumi and her mother were spared the image, however, and the young woman was very grateful. Ayumi gave a small cough, turning her head weakly to one side. Yoshida-san instinctively looked to her daughter, but breathed a sigh of relief as the child settled back down.

"Anyway," she continued, "You should be very proud of young Conan-kun. He did a wonderful job calming her down. How he was able to think clearly after everything that happened I'll never understand. Even I was a wreck when it happened."

Ran turned back to Yoshida-san. "I'm sorry, but Conan-kun hasn't told me what happened."

The mother blinked. "Oh. I see. It was all really frightening."

After the tale had been told, Ran readily agreed. To have such a close friend enter a violent delirium - and _at_ poor Conan - Ran couldn't believe that it had all happened. Her thoughts took her back to the deep thought on the boy's face when she'd first found him in the hospital. Perhaps it wasn't frustration over the investigation, but hurt at what Ayumi had called him and shouted at him. "How terrible," she murmured.

"I don't know how he did it," Yoshida-san agreed. "But he got her to settle down, and even got her to recognize poor Mitsuhiko-kun. I fear he'll have nightmares over this. I know I certainly will."

"Is there anything I can do?" Ran asked.

"No, thank you. You've been wonderful. I'm sorry to have worried-"

"Yoshida-san?" A middle-aged man in a white lab coat, stethoscope poking out of a pocket, approached the two women.

Ran looked to the older woman. "Do you want me to stay?"

"Goodness, no, it's late enough as it is, and I'm sure you want to get young Conan-kun home."

Ran hesitated, but nodded and stood. "Conan-kun, it's time to-"

She looked around, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

Conan darted ahead of the "adults" and into Ayumi's room. For a moment he just stood there and stared, appalled and sickened that a child would be hooked up to IVs and heart and blood pressure monitors and rectal thermometers and other machines. He took a deep breath though, pushing all that emotion aside and hopping onto the bed for a closer examination. He glanced at Ran, but she was absorbed in conversation with Yoshida-san. She was the only "adult" in the world, it seemed, that kept any kind of eye on "Conan", but Shinichi knew that even she could be lax. Using that to his advantage and silently apologizing to her that he was doing so, he started examining his classmate.

He began with pulling a skin sample from her dry and cracked fingers, and slowly lifted the blanket up to examine her feet. They were cracked and flaking too, but her legs were not, and neither were her arms. The dehydration only applied to extremities then, another piece of information to file away for analysis later. Shinichi examined her arms and saw a small cut on the inside of her wrist, something he'd noticed before and now again, but paid it no mind and continued to look.

Unfortunately, there were no outward signs of her odd symptoms other than her skin, and so he slid silently off the bed and began looking around for a medical chart, frowning when he realized that, having just been admitted, one hadn't been placed in the ward yet. He wandered outside to think.

ICU had several wards, rooms where the patients lay in a psychological bubble of privacy. The illusion was lost, however, when exiting the ward to see the nurse's station, an oblong oval of computers and terminals and nurses sitting at them, watching the monitors and machines that were hooked up to the patients in their charge. That was to be his second stop: his first was to the giant man he saw at the other end of the station, the one he'd met several hours earlier packing pajamas for his son.

"Kojima-san?" he asked, putting his little boy voice on.

The man turned, his bulk and height making him look like a mountain to the abbreviated Shinichi.

"... Conan-kun?"

"Ayumi-chan just got here, and I was visiting her," Conan explained, the young teen remembering how he'd observed other children act when they were tired and emotionally spent, "and I was wondering if I could visit Genta-kun, too."

"Ayumi-chan? She's here too? Yes, yes, go and see him. I'm going to go check on Yoshida-san."

Conan gave what he hoped was a tired nod before stepping into his other friend's room.

He wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting to find as he hopped up onto the boy's bed, but seeing a second friend attached to IVs and monitors made him pause, made him stare, made him shove all the emotion that welled up in him aside and kicking it into a hole to bury before shaking his head and getting back to work. Indeed, what good was he if he couldn't find out why two of his kids were so direly sick?

Unlike Ayumi, Genta had had a PICC line inserted at his elbow, to allow for more IVs. A quick tally revealed a baker's dozen of thin plastic lines that worked their way to Genta's PICC. As with Ayumi, there was no respirator, which eased Shinichi's mind. Neither Genta nor Ayumi were so poor in health as to need machines to ease the stress of bodily functions.

Slumped in a chair on the other side of Genta's bed was his mother, breathing deeply and sound asleep; understandable given the circumstances. With the extra presence in the room, Shinichi moved slowly and quietly as he inspected his friend for the first time. He carefully lifted blankets, as he had with Ayumi, to see dry, cracked skin flaking off the larger boy's fingers and feet. A glace at the rectal thermometer showed that Genta had a high fever of 102 degrees, occasionally topping off at 103.

Shinichi looked through Conan's glasses and noted other vitals as he had with Ayumi when he noticed two things. First was a vial for sampling blood, unopened and unused on the nightstand among other various bits of medical miscellany that gather in the room of a patient. Shinichi's much smaller fingers were twitching. Carefully, he reached over, ripped open the packaging, and grabbed an alcohol swab. With precision belying even his true age, he swiped both the vial and an offshoot of the PICC line. He may not have been a doctor or a nurse, but he'd watched both take blood from him to check for infections during his recovery after he'd been shot. He remembered it clearly and he imitated his memory to get a vial of blood from Genta to take to Agasa and Haibara for testing, along with the skin samples.

The second thing he noticed was a healing cut along the back of Genta's hand. Given how energetic the large boy could be, cuts and bruises were often common along Genta's arms and legs. (And Conan's when Genta started roughhousing...) Shinichi couldn't say why his eyes focused in on it. Something about the healing abrasion was turning up the volume on his private, danger-radar of a television. It was an important clue, but he couldn't give any sort of reason as to why. So he stored it away.

Another covert glance at Genta's mother revealed that she was still sleeping, but Shinichi didn't want to press his luck, it was only a matter of time before Genta's father or a nurse came in to check on him. It was sheer luck that he was able to get a vial of blood as it was, so he quietly slid off the bed and gently touched his feet to the floor.

Conan paused at the door and turned back to his sleeping friend as he had with Ayumi. He bowed his head and offered a silent promise that he _would_ figure out what had happened.

The next thing he needed to look at would be any medical records for Genta and Ayumi beyond the vital signs being monitored in the rooms. To do that, he'd need access to their files. The smaller version of Shinichi hung by Genta's door, observing the nurse's station. Ideally, he'd wait until all the nurses were helping the various patients of the ICU and then he'd just walk over, innocent as could be, and start looking up the information he needed.

But that wasn't going to happen. Ran would notice he was missing soon enough so waiting wasn't an option. He needed another way to look through Ayumi's and Genta's medical charts (assuming Ayumi's data had been inputted into the system). That meant Shinichi would need to use his "little-boy-charms" to somehow get one of the nurses at the station to give him what he needed.

Deep breath. Deep breath. And go.

Conan trudged over to one of the nurses at the computers, the same one who had remarked on what a well-behaved boy he was. He waited by her knees for a moment, before lightly tugging on her scrubs. "Nurse-nee-chan?"

Glancing down, the nurse blinked before giving a gentle smile. "You're the good boy from earlier. How can I help you?"

"What happened to my friends?"

"Didn't Yoshida-san explain it to you?"

Conan sadly shook his head. "Yoshida-obaa-san and Ran-nee-chan are talking. I don't understand what they're saying." Conan glanced over to her computer and offered a brighter smile. "Can I look it up online?"

There was a small hesitation as the nurse appeared to internally debate what to do. Finally, she hefted Conan up onto her lap. "Come here." The small detective's heart raced as he realized that the screen on the computer was actually Genta's file! He started to read in earnest, noting the notes that the ER doctor made at Genta's arrival when the window suddenly closed. Deep inside of Conan, Shinichi stomped in frustrated fury. The nurse opened an internet window and went to a kid-friendly website about healthcare. "Why don't you look through this? It should answer some of your questions."

 _Yeah_ , Conan thought to himself. _It'll answer any and all questions on how you're treating him,_ not _what he has. Thanks a bunch. Really_. Still, he played the good boy and poked around the site, looking at bright, cheery animations of doctors looking after sick kids. His sharp eyes, however, noticed that Genta's file was still open, merely minimized. The nurse holding him was talking across the ICU to another nurse who had poked her head out of a room with a question of some kind, so Conan seized the opportunity to go back to Genta's file and read through as much as possible.

He didn't get very far when, "Conan-kun!"

Conan automatically switched the window back to the kid-friendly website and looked up to Ran, who was on the other side of the counter looking down at him, blessedly unable to see the computer screen.

"Ran-nee-chan!" he attempted a cheery chirp. "Look, look! This nurse is showing me how they'll be treating Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan! They'll be better in no time!"

The nurse behind him and Ran shared a glance that Conan understood all too well. _He doesn't understand how sick they are_. But he _did_. From the small bit of Genta's file that he was able to read, he _did_ understand, probably better than Ran at his point, just _how_ sick Ayumi and Genta were. And how the doctors _didn't_ know what was causing it and could only treat the symptoms and not the actual problem yet. That the doctors had been running test after test on Genta once they stabilized him and were already planning on running comparisons with Ayumi. The affects on the nervous system that caused hallucinations and that Genta had gone through two more incidents since his arrival at the hospital was why both Ayumi and Genta were being sedated.

Conan understood what was happening to his kids all too well. But he couldn't show it. So he smiled brightly, if tiredly, while Ran gave a small smile of her own. "Come on Conan-kun. Let's go home."

"Can we visit tomorrow?" he asked, like any other kid his apparent age would.

"Sorry, Conan-kun. We were lucky to get in today at all. The ICU is for family only."

He frowned, but hopped off the nurse's lap and scurried around the counter to Ran. "When will we seem them again?"

"When they get better," Ran replied, reaching down. Conan thought she would just take his hand like always, but instead, she picked him up and held him close. "Come on. Before Dad gets too cranky."

Blushing madly, Conan nodded, hoped she couldn't feel the vial in his pocket, and gave himself a moment to just hold her, like he had earlier. He was going to have to get away for a while with Agasa soon so that he could properly decompress from his hellish life. His emotions were getting closer to the surface and he needed some time as himself to properly deal with and then bury them again.

Kogoro was muttering in the car when they arrived, and there were quite a few swear words being bitten out as Ran buckled Conan in, but the teens both ignored him as he started the car and began the drive home.

"Are you okay, Conan-kun?" Ran asked after a few minutes.

Shinichi eyed her with many, many emotions bubbling just under the surface, but all he could throw together was a muttered, "I'm tired," in his little boy voice.

Ran smiled softly, warmly, _lovingly_ , and it was everything Shinichi could do to not burst into theory and harangue about what he'd discovered and what it all meant and the implications and all the _questions_ that what he was putting together were leading him to. This was not an illness. It wasn't. But this was only the start of the case, and so there was a lot still to be done; and besides, none of this could be shared with Ran. Not one word of it.

And it sucked. Really, really sucked.

Something must have shown on his face, because Ran's smile widened, and she put a gentle hand on the top of his head. "It's okay to feel that way, you know. When bad things like this happen, it's natural to feel hurt, and angry, and tired and frustrated. Helpless, even, but you can't let it wear you down." Her face changed, becoming sadder, more distant. "It hurts not to know sometimes, but that doesn't mean you can give up; you just have to keep believing that everything will turn out alright, that everyone will come home, and soon..."

And Shinichi knew _exactly_ what she was talking about, and guilt swelled in him. It was his own inability to solve his _own_ case that made her suffer like this, and everything he felt over his kids was compounded by what he felt for what he was doing, consciously and deliberately, to Ran. Without thought, he put his tiny hand on hers. "It'll be okay," he said, his voice thick with emotion he couldn't hide.

"I'll fix it. Somehow... I'll fix it. I'll fix everything."

Ran hiccupped and pulled Conan close, holding him tightly in the car. "It's okay, Conan-kun. You don't have to fix it; that isn't your responsibility."

She didn't know. She didn't understand. And that was his fault.

Shinichi bent his head down into her embrace, and fought with everything in him to not cry.

That evening, after everyone had gone to bed and was surely asleep, one tiny figure skulked down the stairs and into the office to pick up the telephone. The small form hopped onto the chair, exhausted but unable to sleep, as a number known all too well was dialed.

It took seven rings, but a voice finally coughed at the other end of the line. "Cough, cough, Hel-cough-lo?"

"Professor Agasa?"

"Shinichi-kun! My it's cough late of you to call."

Shinichi blinked, rubbing sand from an eye. "Are you okay, Professor?"

"Just fine," the old man's voice reassured him. "I was working on something new, but I think there were some inadvertent reactions in the-"

"Professor."

"Yes, yes, Shinichi-kun. How can I help? And why are you calling so late in the night, in any case?"

"I have something for you to analyze. A few somethings, actually. For both you and Haibara."

"Oh?"

Shinichi nodded, though his old neighbor couldn't see it, "Yeah. Haibara will probably have to take tomorrow off from school, because the two of you need to make this top priority."

"This sounds serious, Shinichi-kun. What have you gotten yourself into now?"

The minimized teenage detective blinked tiredly. "Genta and Ayumi are in ICU. The doctors don't know why and they've been exhibiting some bizarre symptoms."

"Such as?" came the calm, cool, and young voice of one Haibara Ai, creator of the drug that had shrunken both Shinichi and herself. It wasn't really a surprise that she had eavesdropped on the phone call.

"Flu and cold symptoms at first. Coughing, fever, aching, and extreme thirst. Extremities such as the hands and feet become so dehydrated that the skin is flaking off. Violent hallucinations. According to some of the medical records I saw at the hospital today, it's affecting the nervous system, which is causing the hallucinations. Lots of things." A tired sigh. "I made notes. I was able to get skin samples from both Ayumi and Genta, and somehow I was able to get a blood sample from Genta. I can drop it off tomorrow on the way to school."

"Understood," Haibara replied. "Professor? Would you be so kind as to inform the school that I'll be out for a few days?"

"Of course, Ai-kun. Now Shinichi-kun, you realize that I'm not a hospital. Some of the tests that we may have to do will take time, improvisation, and me going out to get supplies."

"I understand," Shinichi replied. "I'll come by this weekend and see how things are going."

"Very well. We'll see you in the morning, Shinichi-kun. Be safe."

Shinichi gave a dry chuckle as he hung up the phone. Safe indeed, he was about to enter one of the most irritating facets of his newer life: trying to sleep.

Though the Mouri's lived above their office, the apartment was indeed very small; they only had two bedrooms, and there was literally no place for little Conan to sleep. Ran had offered to have him sleep in her room and, of course, was enthusiastic about having a little brother to sleep with.

For one Kudo Shinichi, however, stuck in a seven-year-old body, the idea was terrifying: he would surely die of sleep deprivation.

"Ran-nee-chan," he'd said more than a little desperately, "I'm a big boy," in more ways than you'd guess, he'd added privately. "I can sleep on the floor in the living room."

But, what he would eventually learn to call the Firm Big Sister Expression slid over her face, and she had replied, "That's impossible, Conan-kun. It's rude to you as our guest. If you don't want to sleep with me, then you'll sleep with Dad."

"Eeeh?" the older man in question had exclaimed. But Ran had turned to him with what Shinichi already knew to call the Stern Daughter look.

And that was how the nightmare began.

The first night had been spent with the two of them, for all intents and purposes, staring at each other. Conan, patched up from his beating in the kidnapping case - his first case as the reduced detective - was trying desperately to show that he was a little boy for the world and wanting to have only one little corner to put a pillow for his head, and Kogoro, put out at the very idea of looking after a kid that wasn't Ran - and more over giving up his valuable and precious space - glared at each other as soon as the door was closed and Ran went off to sleep.

Conan, holding his futon and pillow, had been unsurprised to see the state of the room: littered with beer cans and sake jugs, clothes randomly lying about the floor, bits of wrappers and other signs of a man who didn't look after his things. For Shinichi, who had been learning to live in the public eye and having lived alone for three years to begin with, it was against everything he was ever used to.

"Let me make one thing clear," Kogoro had said after they had stared at each other for several minutes. "You don't live here. You're only here because my daughter is a beautiful and kind person who is too good for the likes of a freeloader like you."

Shinichi snorted, still not used to playing a child. "And let me make one thing clear. You don't have a say in the matter, and I'll never be in her bad graces."

Needless to say, Kogoro did not like having that pointed out to him, and so had kicked clear a tiny corner of the room and grunted something about Conan sleeping there, and that was just fine with the boy. It was only going to be a temporary thing anyway, so there wouldn't be any hassle.

Conan snorted at the memory, ticking off the number of weeks and months that his... condition... had persevered. Tipping up on his toes, he pulled open the door to the room he'd been forced to share since his first night.

Kogoro was already asleep, snorting beatifically in his proper bed, an arm and a leg dangling off the mattress, a hand loosely wrapped around a beer can.

"Oh, good," Conan muttered to himself, "at least he's not dreaming." Because that was the biggest problem: the noise. Shinichi had always been a light sleeper, but Conan, by trial of his experiences, was a "born" poor sleeper. Every little sound exploded into his sleep at night, waking him up instantly. Paranoia indeed. And the Sleeping Kogoro did nothing to help matters. There was the snoring, of course, but also the tossing and turning. The bed was old and creaky, and if Kogoro put too much weight on one particular corner, it sounded like the door opening, and Conan instantaneously woke up (again) to see who had come to murder them in their sleep.

Secondly were the dreams.

The sad fact of the matter was that Kogoro was emphatically not a quiet sleeper. As the faux boy pulled out his futon and pillow for his tiny corner of the room (which had to be cleaned of Kogoro's refuse again), he heard the beginnings of the worst kind of dream the older man could have.

"Eri..."

And all Conan could think of was: Oh, shit...

Kogoro loved his wife. Let that be repeated: Mouri Kogoro loved his wife; and he loved her in his dream, too. Loud, long, and hard. For the next twenty minutes Conan mentally recited the dream Kogoro had at least once a month:

"Eri... want you back... need you back... oh, yeah... love you... yeah... yeeah..."

The first time he'd listened to the dream, Conan had not slept at all, even retreating to the living room with his blanket and pillow - both of which pulled over his ears to block them - he could make out the occasional grunt of satisfaction in Kogoro's dream, and frankly the imagery of what Kogoro was dreaming about creeped out the teen a little too much. Children didn't like knowing what their parents did at night, and the same held true for the parents of the girl you loved.

The morning after that horrible night, Ran was sorely tempted to keep Conan home from school, because the poor boy was so flushed, and it wouldn't go away. Conan had adamantly refused to be anywhere near the house, though, and couldn't look Kogoro in the face for days afterward without turning beet red.

By now, however, the shrunken detective knew the drill. Sighing, he walked over to the groaning older man and pulled hard at the sheets under him. The loss of equilibrium was enough to tip the dreaming man out of bed and onto the floor.

"Lousy kid, what'd you do that for?" he growled.

Conan shrugged, putting his hands in his pajama pockets. "You snore," he said simply. Aggravating as the dreams were, Shinichi did respect a man's privacy.

Kogoro snorted. "The hell I do. At least I don't wet the bed, brat."

That depends ENTIRELY on your definition of "wet," Occhan, Shinichi thought dryly to himself. Out loud he said, "Toddlers wet beds. I'm not a toddler." I'm nowhere NEAR toddler.

Kogoro shrugged it off, pulling himself back to bed. Within two minutes he was back to sawing wood.

Needless to say, Conan didn't need to really "wake up" the following morning. He'd been up most of the night tossing and turning and doing everything in his power to tune out The Drone. He'd also spent most of the night trying to plan how to go about investigating this intimately personal mystery, a vain attempt to keep his mind off the snores, grunts, and moans of the man he shared a room with.

Normally, he would merely stumble upon a body and all the suspects and clues would be right there or within the vicinity. It had been a while since he came upon a case so late after the fact. This was going to involve a lot of the legwork that police normally did. Backtracking to question family, friends, and possible witnesses, investigating the scene of the crime well after the fact, etc. Things that meant the clues may not be fresh or may be gone.

It was going to be frustrating.

Conan let out a long sigh. He rubbed the sand out of his eyes and, out of a long time of forced habit, reached for his glasses and stared up at the ceiling. If this was a deliberate infection, he didn't want anyone else to be involved, but he couldn't investigate the way he normally would. The first step would be at school, and, like it or not, Conan was going to need Mitsuhiko's help.

With another sigh, he rolled out of his futon. He could already hear Ran in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, so Conan went about his normal routine of getting ready for the day. For all that he didn't sleep, Conan was able to decompress a little. Shinichi wasn't quite so close to the surface, so he planned to get through the day without any screw-ups like he did the previous day. No doubt the missing Ayumi and Genta would press at his mental walls heavily, especially as he continued investigating, but Conan believed that he could weather the stress.

He came down the stairs yawning greatly, which made Ran look over.

"Conan-kun?" she asked.

"'Morning, Ran-nee-chan," Conan replied, grinning widely. "Ne, ne, can we pick up Haibara from Professor Agasa today?"

Ran didn't answer right away. Instead, she wiped her hands on a towel and knelt down to him, putting a hand to his forehead. "You had a long day yesterday, Conan-kun. Are you sure you should be going to school today? You look tired."

Conan shook his head and backed away from Ran's hand. "I'm fine, Ran-nee-chan," he chirped, hopping onto his chair for breakfast. "The nurse showed me that website, remember? Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan are going to be just fine."

She hesitated, concern clearly on her face. But Conan ignored her and grabbed his chopsticks with a twirl. "So when's breakfast? And can we pick up Haibara today? We're doing a project together with Mitsuhiko-kun, and we didn't get a chance to talk much yesterday!"

Ran raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What sort of project?"

Dammit! What sort of project would you give to a second-grader? A brief moment of panic washed over him before he spouted out, "A science project! We need to observe the moon and stars for our unit on astrology!"

"Ah, I see," Ran replied in full mothering tone. "All right. We'll go pick her up." She turned back to her cooking, but Conan couldn't help but see a pang slip briefly through her face.

With her back to him, Shinichi looked down to the table. Oh yeah. That will take us by my house. Ran's going to be hurting from that... He owed her a phone call. A chance to talk to her as himself, but answering those questions about when he'd be home were always torture. There is only one truth. He'd always sucked at lying, but with Agasa, Haibara, his parents, and so many people telling him that it was safer for everyone if he just stayed hidden, he'd gotten quite good at weaving his deceits. Dammit, he missed being able to talk to Ran. But he couldn't be selfish about this. Her safety came first, no matter how much it hurt both of them.

Conan looked up when Kogoro finally ambled in, rubbing his eyes and looking like he'd slept in his cloths.

"Morning, Ojii-san!"

Kogoro's reply was incomprehensible as he took his seat. Conan could smell alcohol and decided to keep his mouth shut. Kogoro's little love-taps were always a bit harder when he was inebriated or hung over.

"Breakfast is ready!" Ran caroled, bringing over plates of delicious, hot food. They sat down together and Conan happily lost himself in food and playing the little boy as they talked about the day ahead of them.

"Eeeeehhhh?"

Conan hid a smirk as Ran's jaw dropped.

"Ai-chan's visiting family?"

"Yes," Agasa replied from where he was, clearly distracted from mixing chemicals. "They called last night and asked if they could have Ai-kun for a few days. I thought it'd be a good idea for her. She'll be back this weekend."

"Ye...Yes," Ran was still trying to pick up her jaw, but Conan had slipped away from her side and upstairs to Ai's room where she was "packing".

"Kudo-kun," she greeted. "The samples?"

Conan nodded and pulled off his backpack to reach inside. He pulled out the two plastic bags with Genta's skin flakes from his room and Ayumi's skin flakes that he'd collected from the hospital. From a pocket, he pulled out the vial of blood he'd miraculously been able to draw from Genta's PICC line.

Ai raised an eyebrow at the vial. "I didn't know whether or not to believe you last night when you said you'd gotten a blood sample."

"Pure luck," Conan replied. He gave a half grin. "Have fun visiting your 'family'."

The mini-scientist said nothing, merely looking at the blood sample. "Like we said last night, Kudo-kun. This weekend. Don't bother us before hand."

Conan rubbed the back of his head. Not that he'd ever admit it, he really could be a pain when he wanted an answer. "Don't worry Haibara. I'll leave you alone."

"Good. And those notes you made?"

He pulled out a notebook from his backpack. "I'm not a doctor or even a pathologist, so I'm not sure how helpful they'll be."

"But you're observant. These will be fine," Ai replied, already flipping through them. "Observant and thorough."

Conan shrugged. "I'll be going now, before Ran starts calling for me."

"Be careful, Kudo-kun."

He merely offered a grin before leaving and heading back downstairs.

School was the epitome of boredom every day for Conan. He'd already learned everything years ago and was way advanced. Even in his own grade, he tended to be in the more advanced classes since he seemed to absorb information like a sponge. If his own school was boring for him because he picked up things so quickly, being stuck in elementary school again was just painful.

He'd tried, once, to bring in some of his actual schoolwork. But the teacher had found it (after all, he wasn't really paying much attention) and told him that while it was nice to try and imitate his nee-chan, he wouldn't get to that material until he'd covered the basics she was teaching. Conan had to take notes, pretend to pay attention, deliberately answer questions wrong on occasion, ask for extra help when he deemed it necessary, and stay hidden.

It was something that he used to keep his mind sharp. During his days at elementary school, he practiced multitasking his mind. He kept his deductive ability sharp by constantly observing his class, teachers, and events going on in school. Frankly, he could probably out do Ayumi in a heartbeat when it came to gossip (and accuracy) and knowing the student body, because he was always watching. With that going on in one part of his brain, he often tried to recite his favorite mystery novels in his mind to at least keep his imagination going. And while doing all that, he took notes and worked on acting like a child, honing any acting skills he'd inherited from his mother, both by observing fellow students and making sure that, while acting like a kid, he didn't stand out.

It wasn't until he actively tried to not stand out that he realized how much work it took. When he had first been enrolled to the school, it was only a week later when the teacher pulled him aside to praise him on how smart he was, and that if he kept it up he'd be put in a more advanced class in no time. He'd very nearly panicked when he realized that, and had to hastily stammer that of course it was easy, he'd already had it before in his old school (technically not a lie) - it was ahead in terms of curriculum. The teacher smiled and patted him on the head for his good work, and that night young Conan's homework was much more involved, spending many hours locked in front of a computer for a typing assignment over at Professor Agasa's (at Ran's questioning).

He'd looked up the Japanese standardized tests, how they were scored, how they were broken down, exemplars, and then the national curriculum for not only second grade, but first, third, and fourth, before printing them all out and taking them up to his room to study them side by side.

It was one of Shinichi's first conscious decisions about his new identity, one of the few things he'd had time to construct and hone to his own preference. He'd broken down the strands for all core subjects - Japanese, math, science, and social studies, and decided which ones Edogawa Conan would be strong and weak in. He'd given away a fair bit in that first week, and so he aligned himself with a curriculum and studied what he was and wasn't supposed to know. He'd gone to school the next day with strong math and science skills, but terrible spelling and not enough attention for open-ended responses.

Knowing that and applying it was two different worlds, but for Shinichi it was a wonderful boon, because it gave him something to think about and control. Every worksheet, every question, every lesson that was presented he had to make a decision on what national test subject and strand it was, and calling up his academic profile for Conan to decide how well or how poorly he did. All this so he wouldn't stand out.

"Not standing out" was his creed in school. He had, after all, gone to this school during his first childhood. Thankfully, he was on a different team and most of the teachers he'd had the first time had retired. That didn't mean there weren't some teachers that Conan always avoided like the plague. For example, that day they were in the computer lab for a period. The woman in charge of their computer lessons was there when Shinichi had been in school, so Conan kept his head down in class. Hopefully, he was just a name on the roster that was a well-behaved, if quiet kid. It was also why Conan avoided getting into the kind of trouble that would send him down to administration. The principal, vice principal, secretaries, school nurse, guidance program, and other non-teachers, were all there from his first time. As Kudo Shinichi, his pranks tended to generate a lot of trouble and he'd often been spoken to about his behavior. He did not want that to happen again. He didn't want anyone to recognize him. So whenever those people were near, he kept his head down.

The previous day, after he'd given his notes and samples to Ai, Conan had had a long talk with Mitsuhiko on the way in to school on how to go through their investigation. Their first point of attack would be to see how many kids from school were actually missing. Conan would focus on their own grade. Mitsuhiko was to investigate the other grades and find out who was absent. After all, the freckled boy was in the computer club after school, which had students from all grades. He'd have a better chance of finding out how many were missing from each grade. Conan, himself, was doing head counts. And he wasn't liking what he was finding.

A class of thirty students stayed in one room the entire day. The teacher cycled through the core subjects. Break periods had the teacher leading them to other rooms of the school, like for sewing or for gym, but ultimately the day was spent in one room. Even lunch was eaten there; they did not have the cafeterias that Shinichi had seen when he was in America. It made for assessing the overall health of his grade something of a challenge, but Conan decided he would just have a poor week for bladder function, and asked to utilize facilities on occasion. When the sensei let him go, he quickly padded through the halls without looking like he wasn't supposed to be there and poked his head into the rooms of the other teachers. Often just looking through a window or holding his ear to a partly open door and counting the number of voices or how many desks were empty. At lunch he decided to get a free lunch on the cart that was wheeled around and asked the server if she noticed a lot of absences.

"Whatever do you mean?" the middle-aged lady had asked.

"Well, you see, Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun are both really, really sick," Conan explained, all innocence, "And I was wondering if they caught it, like a bug, from someone else."

"Well, now that you mention it, some of the classes are a little emptier," the server responded, a hand going to her cheek in thought. "I know poor Sanada-sensei is missing almost half his students, and Hashiba-sensei is shy a few girls - though for him that's a boon, the little chatter-boxes. I guess a cold really is going around."

It was with that dark little clue that, after school, he waited on the front steps of the school as Mitsuhiko conferred with his club.

It was while he was waiting that Conan went over the facts thus far in his head, trying to turn them around and look at them from every angle. On his lap was a notebook open to a blank page. It was something that had always been a key part of any detective taking notes. Policemen were always jotting down facts and even fictional investigators like Archie Goodwin were always writing something down, even if it was later. However, in this childish form, Conan couldn't take the risk. The ingrained habit of Shinichi to take notes had, out of necessity, been discarded. An elementary school child wouldn't take notes at a crime scene. He pushed it as it was with his pointed and leading questions.

Besides that, any notes he took would be physical evidence, and nothing could exist that would link Edogawa Conan to a pint-sized Kudo Shinichi. When Conan was in the middle of an investigation, his notes were reminiscent of when he had been himself. He wrote in kanji (something elementary kids didn't do, they wrote in hiragana), in a type of shorthand that could be easily identified as Kudo Shinichi, Great Detective of the East, and while a child didn't have the fine motor control of an adult, there would be no denying the similarity in the handwriting.

So Conan learned to memorize all the facts he came across and improve his recall, since he could no longer organize his thoughts on paper.

Mistuhiko-kun, where are you? I'm depressing myself here. Give me some good news.

It was then that something took the remote and raised the volume up to blaring. Colors where sharper, sounds more pronounced, detail in High Definition. Conan stood up, notebook forgotten as it fell to the ground. Someone is watching me...

He raced as fast as his short legs could go to the front gate to the school, the only entrance to the campus. Conan's eyes raked across the street, scrutinizing every detail. A pair of elementary kids were playing on the sidewalk, a small group of middle school girls were packed around each other gossiping over something, a high school girl was walking a dog, a middle-aged business man was rushing by with a briefcase and glancing at his watch, a mother was walking a stroller; so many people, and none were paying attention to the elementary school other than a spare glance. Observations were still going on at full volume, and Conan continued to look amongst the passers-by. It wasn't any of them unless the person who had been watching him had turned a corner; not from what Conan could see.

With one final glance, he raced back onto the school campus and circled the building, looking for anything out of place. With his observations in paranoid-aware mode, he picked up things far faster than he normally would. Deductions were already being listed in regards to what had happened on the school grounds over the course of the day ranging from a first-grader burying something under a tree to an older child tripping during gym class and sliding across part of the field and verifications if he looked more closely. Nothing he saw, however, could be associated with anything other than children running rampant at various parts of the day. No sign of strangers. The smoker's corner had butts piled, but none of them were new or fresh. No sign of ropes or someone being along the wall.

Finally, Conan made a full circle of the school, sweaty and panting. He raced back to the gates and looked around the street once more, but by then the faces had changed. Nothing. Dammit, who was watching me and where? Finally, a light bulb went off and Conan looked up. The buildings across the street had lots of windows to observe from. And by now, the observer would be long gone.

Panting heavily, Conan turned and headed back to his discarded notebook and backpack. This wasn't the first time he'd felt eyes so keenly on him. Shortly after he'd become Conan, he'd felt eyes on him. Part of it, he was certain, was his paranoia, but he could never be too sure. It was usually in just his day-to-day life. Such scrutiny was never felt when he was on an investigation, nothing that keen. The eyes that followed him were exceedingly rare, but it was damn frustrating and did nothing to alleviate his paranoia.

Conan landed heavily were he was sitting before, still trying to catch his breath. He ran a hand through his now sweaty hair and scowled at nothing. Whoever was watching him wasn't part of the Black Organization; that he was certain of. The eyes that had been watching him could often catch him acting more Shinichi than Conan, and if it was the Black Organization, he'd be dead beyond a shadow of a doubt. But that didn't mean his mystery observer was benign. The question was what the hell this observer was waiting for before doing something? Stalkers, after all, eventually approached the person they were stalking and Conan was certain that his stalker would come out of the shadows eventually. But how was he supposed to prepare for that confrontation without any clue of what was coming other than knowledge that it was coming?

"Conan-kun?"

The minimized detective started. It never ceased to annoy him how, even in his paranoid-aware state, his kids or Ran could get close to him without his realizing it.

"Mitsuhiko-kun! You startled me!" Already, Conan's alert senses were noting the other members of the computer club filing out from the school and heading for the gate without a care in the world, though some were looking a little somber.

"Conan-kun, are you well?"

Glancing around once more and not spying his stalker, Conan let out a small sigh. "I'm worried, Mitsuhiko-kun. I don't like what I was finding out today while I was investigating. Out of our grade of one-hundred-and-fifty-three, almost a fifth of the students are absent. Eighteen total absent. Very few in the same class, so teachers aren't noticing the drop in attendance. I'm really hoping you have good news."

The freckled boy looked down, his grip on the straps of his own backpack tightening. "I do not have such uplifting news. There are similar numbers missing in each grade. This is bad, Conan-kun. What shall be our next move?"

Conan frowned again. There were several routes to go; the question would be which one. "Do you have some names of the students who are absent?"

Mitsuhiko nodded.

"Then this weekend I think we should-"

"Conan-kun!"

The teen-turned-boy jumped again, whirling around so fast one might have thought the devil had just touched his shoulder. Ran blinked as she looked down at him, not expecting such a strong reaction, her smile replaced by surprise.

"Ra... Ran-nee-chan!" Conan sputtered, waiting desperately for his heart rate to go down. Was it possible for a seven year old to die of a heart attack? "You startled me!" His voice was louder than he intended.

The surprise wore off her face, and she smiled gently, bending down to his level. "I'm sorry," she said in soft tones. "Did I catch you planning something bad?"

Conan blinked. If you count investigating a gross number of cases of mystery poisoning bad, I guess. Dry commentary aside, he put on a more childlike face and shook his head. "Uh-uh," he responded. "Mitsuhiko-kun and I were gonna go out on Sunday, if that's okay."

"Sure," Ran said brightly. "I can finish my homework in the morning and-"

Conan thought very quickly: "Aw, but it was going to be a Men's Day Out." He put a whine in his voice and hoped he'd mastered the puppy-dog look.

Ran giggled, and Conan was relieved. "Well, if you say so."

She made for a wonderful adult presence, Ran did, but the legwork he had in mind was tedious and far-reaching. Ran would question why they were doing what they were doing, and it would only make her worry. If she knew that Conan was Shinichi, she would actually have been a great boon in helping with the tedium of legwork - a thought that brought a complex mix of bitter resentment, anger, self-loathing, and depression - which he shoved brutally aside in favor of a bright grin and a cute "waai!" of exultation at "getting his way."

"Ne, in the meantime, Conan-kun, I have a surprise for you. Are you free?"

His look of bewilderment was too cute for words. Ran's declaration of surprise left the boy at a blank loss that only made her smile more brightly. It had been a fluke really, she'd been talking with Sonoko over the paper when she'd seen the ad and, knowing what a fan Conan was, decided to go for it. Her best friend had been all for it - a surprise considering she only ever called Conan-kun "chibi," but then Sonoko was like that.

After Conan had arranged to meet his friend, Ran took his hand and slowed her pace so the boy could keep up, walking him to the train station. The car was packed, like it always was this time of day, and to save room, Ran picked the child up and held him on her lap. Conan flushed and tried to refuse, but pragmatism eventually won out and he acquiesced.

Ran had never considered herself very maternal. Shinichi had teased her about it from time to time, but her martial arts training kept it only from time to time. To be honest, she'd never pictured herself as a mother. She was too athletic, too into martial arts, and too into academia to consider herself even mother material. She'd always pictured mothers as gentle, nurturing women in aprons with a strict eye on the children and the checkbook. Her own mother wasn't much of an example; she was a powerful, independent woman with her own mind and the will to work; Ran rather thought she took after Eri, and had visions of leading a similar life - even with Shinichi. Her fantasies had them coming home from their respective days of work and fighting bitterly over who was more tired and who should cook dinner, or going to conferences together to keep the other company, or meeting somewhere for a quick lunch. Really, children were never on her mind.

She took care of her father, of course, and before, she would have thought of that as a daughter's obligation rather than any kind of motherly action. He was just a man in a rut and needed a meal here and there; he worked enough to pay the bills and that was that. It wasn't until Conan entered her life that she realized just how good she was at the role.

It was... natural; in a way she wasn't expecting. The boy was just so cute when she first met him, flustered at being caught when trying to hide; a stuttering wide-eyed bundle of adorable that she wanted to wrap him up and take him home with her - when she found out she could she was ecstatic: a little girl with a new doll to play with, that was the feeling that kept bubbling up when she led him home. She wasted no time telling him about her secret love of Shinichi, giggling and blushing like a middle-schooler, and the plans she had on buying him all kinds of clothes over that first weekend - which he had to try on of course - and asking him his favorite foods and other little bits and odds and ends.

The reality of it all didn't sink in until he disappeared, just hours after meeting him, during the kidnapping investigation. When she'd used the dogs to finally find the kidnapper; when she'd found brave, stupid little Conan bloody and beaten in his attempts to help the kidnapped girl; then she realized just what a responsibility it was to have a child.

From zero to a hundred back to zero.

It was after that that she became much more observant of the boy, making sure he was where he was supposed to be and not getting into even more dangerous trouble. His value for independence was discovered quickly, and Ran was perfectly willing to watch from the background as he learned how to do things for himself. Maybe that was what she'd valued in her own mother, Eri; her decision to let Ran figure things out for herself.

Conan shifted his weight on her lap, and she unconsciously hugged him tighter. She loved this boy, suspicions or not, and she would sooner die than see him hurting.

They got off after three stops, and the boy blinked when he recognized the station.

"Ran-nee-chan, what are we doing here?"

"We're here to see a movie, of course," Ran replied, smiling brightly as he blinked at her, taking a minute to parse the sentence. So cute!

"Movie? What..." his voice trailed off as he looked up and read the various slots that were available. A flat look crossed his face when he read "Kamen Yaiba: Star-Crossed Battle of Love and Friendship!" and an eyebrow twitched.

"I agree," Ran said in sympathy. "The title could use some work. But I know how much you and your friends like Yaiba, so when I saw this in the paper this morning with Sonoko-chan, I couldn't resist."

"So this was her suggestion?" the boy asked, a hint of ire in his voice.

"She thought it was a wonderful idea," Ran said with a sweeping gesture. "I know you're not fond of her, but she's a really good friend of mine, so I hope you appreciate her."

The eyebrow twitched again, but Conan admitted defeat and put on a bright face. "If you say so, Ran-nee-chan," he said in a bright and more boyish tone. Ran shrugged her shoulders; at least he was trying. Shinichi had never completely warmed to Sonoko either; he was constantly making sarcastic comments or ironic observations about the boy-ditz under his breath whenever her friend was with them. This was promptly followed with a well-placed elbow to the rib cage. The two often got into loud fights about Sonoko, but ultimately Shinichi understood that Ran saw in her something he didn't, and that she was Ran's friend, and so he acquiesced.

After buying the tickets, Ran let Conan scamper ahead to pick out candy of his choosing, smiling.

If she and Shinichi ever had children, she hoped they turned out like Conan: bright, inquisitive and mature... maybe with a few hints of her facial features, and a decidedly smaller penchant for getting into trouble. The idea sounded wonderful, and she found herself blushing at her own fantasies. She wondered if Shinichi ever thought about his future, having kids and what they would be like. Probably not, she decided. Shinichi was like she was before Conan came, incapable of seeing himself with children simply because he had no experience with them. He'd make a good father, though, when she thought about it. He was a good teacher, and for all his cocky arrogance and clipped language, he was always very gentle when he needed to be, and he had a sense of empathy Ran rarely found in other boys. The poor teen detective had no idea what to do with it, of course, but that was okay; time was a good teacher in that respect, and he would have her with him.

"Ran-nee-chan, why are you blushing so much?" Conan asked. Ran blinked and looked down at him, surprised that she had wandered off into dream-land like that. She quickly shook her head and put her Big Sister face back on.

"Oh, sorry, Conan-kun. I was having a very happy thought. Come on, let's see what the previews are before the movie!"

She took his small hand in hers - there was a warmth in it that reminded her of her precious teen detective - and led her charge down to the correct theatre.

For the next hour and a half, Ran let herself delve into those fantasies, giggling occasionally in spite of herself. Conan, she felt, spent more time looking at her than the movie, but when it finally let out he was decidedly more relaxed, and had a very mature look on his face, something wistful and nostalgic, a hint of a grin that looked so much like Shinichi, Ran could only smile back.

Conan had cheered up. Mission accomplished.

Ran stretched mightily, her back arching almost in half - a testament to her flexibility - as she tried to pull the sleepiness out of her body. It was three minutes before the alarm was to go off, but she hadn't closed her curtain enough last night, and a shaft of light had been shining across her face. Feeling refreshed, she arched a few more parts of her body before finally getting out of bed. It was Sunday, and though it may be her day off, she did have breakfast to get.

Changing the intimates and throwing on a set of jeans and clean sweater, Ran ran a brush through her hair - nothing fancy; that came after breakfast- and stepped out of the room. She was surprised to smell fish on a fryer. Following her nose, she found little Conan, dressed in shorts and a sweatshirt standing on his stool flipping a pan.

"Conan-kun?"

"Ah," the boy said brightly, turning around. "Ran-nee-chan, good morning!"

"Good morning," she answered automatically. "What are you doing?"

"Making breakfast," he said happily.

"I can see that, but why?"

"Because," he said simply. "Because Mitsuhiko-kun and I are having a Men's Day Out, and I didn't want you to be lonely, so I wanted to do something for you."

Ran blinked at first, but finally a broad smile spread across her features. "You're very thoughtful, Conan-kun. That's very sweet of you."

The boy's face fell slightly; he quickly turned back to the skillet, his back to her. "There's so little I can do for you," he whispered, his voice lower, his tone deeper. "I want to do _something_."

The sentiment was sweet beyond measure, and the depth behind it made Ran wonder again. But whoever this child was, she gently ran her fingers through his hair in appreciation. "You do a lot, Conan-kun, more than you realize." She didn't think he even realized that his similarities filled a void that had appeared in her since Shinichi's disappearance - his actions and mannerisms and frightening similarities to her teen sweetheart gave the illusion that he was still around and that he hadn't really left her; and that was perhaps the biggest reason she never questioned too deeply. Because if she did, then the very real possibility that he no longer cared, perhaps never cared for her, was too much for her to handle.

Conan was a good host - he didn't let her help in any way, and inside of fifteen minutes the two of them were sitting down to a hot breakfast.

"So where are you going if this is going to be a Men's Day Out?" she asked.

Conan blinked. "Oh, er, that's men's business!" he said quickly.

Ran giggled and let him have his secrets.

Kogoro appeared eventually. He was not what could be considered a "Morning Person"; the buttons on his shirt were wrong, his jacket was inside out, and he hadn't yet shaved, his calloused fingers scratching and scraping at various parts of his stubble and uncombed hair. His intellectual conversation consisted of grunts and grumbles with the occasional growl before he started to look awake. Conan served all three of them, though with Ran's father he looked decidedly put out.

After a slow and bright hour, Conan stood up and cleared his plate. "I gotta get going," he said brightly. "I'll be back this afternoon, okay?"

"Okay," Ran said. "Be careful, be safe."

"I will. I..." his face changed again, a look Ran couldn't read, but he said, "I'll call you."

With that he disappeared to the front step.

"Where's the brat off to?" Kogoro asked.

"He's off to enjoy himself," Ran answered, running a hand unconsciously through her hair, trying to straighten it out. "He's been depressed since Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun got sick. It's good to see him start to brighten up."

Twenty minutes later, just as she was stepping out to have her own day, the phone rang.

"Hello, Mouri Detective Agency," Ran answered.

"Good, I was hoping I'd get you."

... " _Shinichi!_ "

"Hey, hey, careful; you'll make me deaf!"

Shock wore off quickly, replaced with irritation. "Shinichi! Where have you been? I haven't heard from you in _weeks_! Do you ever realize how worried I get?"

There was a very long pause on the receiver; so much that Ran was beginning to wonder if he'd just hung up on her, but then, "... Yeah, I know you worry." It was such a small voice, mumbled and ashamed, quiet and sounding almost like Conan. Ran's emotional tirade came to a screeching halt when she heard his response.

"I know I worry you. I... If there was anyway I could just drop this... this stupid case and come home, I would in a heartbeat. I want you to know that. It... It isn't pleasant for me either, being away like this."

Emotion welled in Ran. "Then why don't you come home?" she demanded. "No case is worth-"

" _I can't_."

"... Shinichi?"

"I _can't_ ," and there was such emotion under those two words, Ran's own emotional profile did a one-eighty. "I _can't_ come home. I want to... I want to so _badly_... but lives are depending on me. A lot of lives, and I can't... I just... I wish... I _can't_."

Ran heard the emotion, raw and unhidden. Shinichi was the brooding type. Growing up, he and she had both had a happy childhood. However, that didn't change Shinichi's incredibly bright brain. Whenever they came across something that he didn't understand, Shinichi would turn the great mechanisms of his grey cells to the problem. However, understanding people was something that Shinichi had initially been rather inept at. His parents were bizarre with their own set of rules, and if Ran didn't like anything he did, she put him right in his place, even as a child. But that was the limit of his social experience until he entered school. It provided many an amusing memory, of Shinichi going through elementary school and disappearing from social gatherings while he pondered and brooded on how to interact. Ran had helped him and once Shinichi created his own sets of algorithms, he grew more and more confident.

That didn't change the fact that Shinichi remained a private person. It was easier for him to get along with people if they didn't see how deeply he felt on things. He was very kind-hearted in that regard; he always tried to cheer people up in his own mystery-geek way and protect all around him. His own feelings were private.

But those two words of "I can't" held so much pain and raw _feeling_. For the detective to have such emotion in his voice meant that this was bothering him badly. Whatever this case was, it was disturbing him, bothering him, and wearing him down. Sympathy and empathy welled up in Ran, and she felt here eyes water. Damn it, she didn't want him to know she was crying! She brought the back of her hand up to her eyes furiously and took a deep breath.

"Well," she said in a shaky voice, "things have been very busy here. Dad solved another case two weeks ago. A lawyer was killed by one of his clients because he lost the case. Very dreadful, she dressed up as a boy and stabbed him in the back of the neck. Dad figured it out just from the smell of nail polish remover!"

There was a snort on the other end of the line, followed by a poor excuse of a cough. "I'm sure he was brilliant," he managed, disbelief and dry sarcasm in his voice.

"Don't be like that. Dad's been really great with all these cases."

"Hey, hey, I'm a firm believer in his celebrity," Shinichi offered, a grin evident in his voice.

Ran smiled, glad that she was able to distract her precious, precious friend. "Conan's been very worried, though. A lot of his friends are in the hospital, and I don't think he's taking it well. I've managed to cheer him up, but they still don't know what's making the children sick."

"Oh, really?" Shinichi asked, completely casual.

"Yes, Ayumi-chan - she's one of his friends, was so sick she had a fever dream. She thought Conan was a bad man trying to kidnap himself! Her mother Yoshida-san said she's had three more episodes like that, and Genta-kun seems to be suffering the same thing."

"Delirium, huh? And there have been more of them? That doesn't sound like a bacteria infection."

"I know!" Ran agreed. "The doctors don't know what's wrong. Yoshida-san says they're even going to do a spinal tap to see how deep this seems to be going."

"Ran," Shinichi said in a solemn tone. "This does not sound like a run-of-the-mill flu."

The young woman stilled; that was his detective tone, reserved for when he was completely focused on a case. "... Shinichi?"

"Nothing, nothing," he said quickly. "Just thinking out loud; you know me."

"Shinichi, you're always right," Ran said carefully. She had to mind her steps, whenever she'd tried to push at what was going on in the young detective's mind - at least when he was a voice on the phone - he often shut down and hung up (and with fleeting calls like these she wanted to maximize every minute). "Is there something you know?"

"No, nothing," he said quickly. "Just... be careful." There was a half laugh, filled with an irony that Ran didn't understand. "I can't protect you all the time."

The line did the trick; Ran huffed and made a face. "Mou, Shinichi! I'm perfectly capable with taking care of myself!"

"I know, I know, but... much as I want to, I can't do a good job of it as I am now. There's so little I can do for you; I want to do _something_."

Exactly what Conan had said just over an hour ago. Her heart panged as she recognized the sentiment, the depth. The voice was deeper, richer; it was _Shinichi's_ voice, but it was _Conan's_ sentiment, Conan's emotion. She smiled into the phone. "You sound just like Conan-kun," she said softly.

There was a panicked snort followed by an indignant grunt. "What, that brat? Never."

Ran took her turn for an indignant noise. "Don't say that, you two are _just_ alike!"

"Hey, hey, don't insult me," the detective said in disgust. "Anyway, I can't stay much longer. Some test results from the lab just came in. I gotta go."

"Shinichi, wait, when can I see-"

But the phone was hung up, and Ran listened to the dull drone of a dial tone.

And the sense of loss sprung up all over again.

Conan... _Shinichi_ hung up the phone, his hand lingering on the receiver as his head drooped against his chest, loss mixing with the agony of self loathing and unabated _hatred_ for Gin and Vodka and unadulterated _mourning_ of his precious Ran. His body was entirely too small - in either size - for the world of feeling his synapses were firing back and forth in his brain. He wondered in a dim corner of his mind about brain explosions, or perhaps heart explosions, but it hurt just as much, if not more.

"Kudo-kun," a soft, little girl's voice whispered from the other side of the room.

All the feeling was violently shoved aside as Shinichi straightened, mentally rearranging himself, realigning his thoughts to the case, and turned around with a face that no longer held the haunted look that was ghosting it before.

"Yeah," he grit out, voice still betraying him.

Haibara Ai gave him a distantly appraising look; studying and gauging him, before she moved on in her usually bored tones. "You gave me quite a challenge."

"Eh?"

"The skin samples were worthless; there was nothing in them other than trace amounts of... everything. But the blood, I haven't seen samples like that in a long time."

The teen trapped in a boy's body blinked, something cold and slimy setting in his stomach. "What do you mean?"

"Come with me," she said without ceremony, the tiny blond turning and walking out the room and down Agasa's narrow hallway. Conan followed.

She led him to her lab, unsurprisingly, and gestured to a microscope that clearly had been set up beforehand. Removing his glasses, Conan complied and looked at the sample. It was an amalgam of spots and colors. Shinichi recognized them as cells and bacteria and amoeba, but that was all. His knowledge of biological forensics was not as deep as his knowledge of other sciences. High school only just skimmed the surface of human biology, and his skills were more central to what he could immediately see, not the microscopic.

So,

"I don't know what I'm looking at," he said finally, pulling his gaze from the microscope.

"Tropane alkaloids," Haibara replied, "in disproportionately high quantities." She pulled a book open and flipped it open to a seemingly random page, showing it to Conan.

"This doesn't look like anything in the microscope," he said slowly. That cold and slimy feeling was spreading out of his stomach and up his spine.

"No, because it's been modified. There are traces of antihistamines, diphenhydromine, hydroxyzine, temazepam, and sodium thiopental."

Conan perked up, recognizing the last item. "Truth serum?"

Haibara nodded. "Yes. This is a manufactured anticholinergic: a deliriant." She pulled out another book, opened to a page, and showed Conan a collection of plant photos: floripondio, henbane, and thorn apple to name a few. "Tropane alkaloid is the largest ingredient, and these are the most probable sources. They were either genetically modified or concocted with other agents to make this. A cocktail like this is just asking to create hallucinations."

Conan cocked his head to one side. While he had vast knowledge of forensics, what Haibara was talking about fell more into biochemistry. While he had a vast mental database of various ways the body could react to anything in the throes of death, nothing listed was clicking. It was rare indeed when he didn't understand something, but, having said that, Haibara's expertise was well outside of his; and so he didn't feel (too) stupid when he asked, "What does this have to do with truth serum?"

"The idea of truth serum is a fallacy," she said simply, "all sodium thiopental and its cousins do is make the user more likely to talk - it does no prompting of truth telling, it just increases the chances that something will slip out. It has some hallucinogen properties, which is probably why it's been lumped together with the rest."

"So then, these hallucinogens..."

Haibara nodded. "Deliriants like the ones in those pictures antagonize acetylcholine receptors of the brain; they're often called 'true' hallucinogens, because these are the kinds of chemicals that will make a person have conversations with people not there, or become angry at someone mimicking them - not realizing it's their own reflection. The victims, fortunately, don't remember their hallucinations when they return to a proper state of consciousness. You said both Genta-kun and Ayumi-kun were dehydrated, correct?"

Conan nodded.

"And they were suffering from mydriasis, pupil dilation?"

Conan nodded again.

Haibara took her turn to nod in response, expecting the affirmatives. "Those are side effects of deliriants. With a combination like this, any number of other side effects could occur, such as aches you observed, or the fever perhaps - though I suspect that's just the body trying to combat the deliriant. Anything in high enough doses is harmful, but hallucinogens can be lethal if overdosed. What was Ayumi's delirium again?"

"She thought I was a bad man, and that the doll I was holding was me, and that I was kidnapping myself."

Haibara nodded again. "Deliriants generally cause the same kind of hallucination: dark entities, peripheral disturbances, being alone and watched simultaneously, and things ceasing to exist. Her hallucination was just starting, so likely you were the dark entity, seeking to cease your existence. Genta-kun probably felt something similar. This coupled with confusion and hyperactive 'positive' symptoms like agitation and combativeness, and the violent outbursts can all be explained. 'Seeking the Magic Mushroom,' indeed," she said with the closest sound of a snort one as emotionally closed off as she could manage.

"Why haven't the doctors found this?" Conan asked, keeping pace with his fellow trapped child.

"Large as the quantities are, they're not that easy to find unless you know what you're looking for. Even if they did find the foreign agent, breaking it down would be extremely difficult."

"You did it."

"I knew what I was doing. I was a poisons expert." She inhaled deeply through her nose, holding the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes - perhaps the strongest show of emotion Conan had seen from her in a long time. "It's a work of art," she whispered, respect and admiration fighting with a self-loathing that Conan knew all too well. "On par with my old work, there's an efficiency in the chemical combination, a beauty in its construct; it's... delicately wonderful." The hand lowered, and the traces of emotion were gone, and to all observers it was as if her expression had never changed. "A professional made this."

"For what purpose?" Shinichi asked gravely. "Why make people hallucinate?"

"I don't work for Them anymore," she said simply.

Shinichi knew it was coming, but he still reacted. His body stiffened, his back straightened, and his heart stopped for three seconds. He knew, his mental TV kept telling him that one fact, but he'd irrationally refused to acknowledge it, refused to believe it as the cold and slimy feeling engulfed his heavy heart.

"The Black Organization," he said simply, his voice ruff as he grunted out the name.

"Yes."

He was _so_ screwed.

"Ah! Conan-kun!" The skinny boy gave a wan smile, waving.

Down the street, pushing a skateboard normally along, rolled her favorite follower, face tight with something. The boy looked like he hadn't slept much or eaten much, given how pale he looked. But all that wiped away once he got to the tables and off his skateboard to meet up with his friend.

"Gomen, Mitsuhiko-kun," the boy said. "I had some difficulty getting way."

 _Ah, your girlfriend keeps a good eye on you, doesn't she?_ she snickered to herself. _Now if only your girlfriend knew she was watching_ you _instead of you_...

"How shall we approach this investigation today?"

"I was thinking about that last night and..." the mini-detective started to glance around, eyes wary.

 _Well damn, if something doesn't have you more aware than normal. Time to go._

"Yamazawa-san, how are you?" Mitsuhiko greeted politely.

"We're doing a survey for our math class," the shrunken detective added, peering intently into the apartment.

"Would you mind terribly if we were to ask you and your son Hiromu-senpai some questions?"

The woman at the door was pale, tearstains tracing her cheek. At the mention of her son's name, fresh tears trailed down her face. "I'm sorry," she mumbled around a lump in her throat. "I can't, I... I think you should go now." The door shut behind her firmly.

 _Huh?_

"Well, Conan-kun? Did you see anything this time?"

"No," was the irritated reply. "There's something niggling in my mind, but I'm not sure what it is. Let's change tactics. We won't get anything from the parents and we can't even get in long enough for a chance to look around. Let's go to the library."

Mitsuhiko gave a sad little nod. "I am getting very worried."

"So am I."

 _Well_ shit _this isn't good_ , Shiroyuki swore to himself. Whatever his critic was into wasn't something he just stumbled into. His favorite follower was doing a lot of legwork for whatever this case was, and something about that was worrying Shiroyuki. Still, he knew were the nearest library was, so he headed around a corner and disappeared from the line of site of the two boys he'd been with all day. He needed to do a little set up at the library.

Mittaki Erika was waiting for the two children who entered into the library. Her nametag was in place and she had memorized what was where in the stacks enough to fudge what she needed. If the tantei-kun picked up on her not knowing anything, she could merely claim to be new.

Erika raised an eyebrow when she saw the two come in. Thus far, over the course of the day, Mitsuhiko had been in the lead with the list of addresses and, apparently, leading the survey-interview. But this time, her critic was front and center. He walked right up to her and hesitated. No doubt whatever books he was going to ask for might not be accessible in the kiddie-section, but Erika would gladly turn a blind eye to that.

"Librarian-san?" he asked.

Erika looked down and offered a warm smile. "What can I help you with?"

"Um, well," he looked down and winced. "We were talking about something in school this week that I didn't understand. So I wanted to do some research."

"Oh? Well I'll be happy to point out where you need to go." She winked. "Of course, this is my second day here, so I know the adult section more than the child section. Would that be a problem?"

There was a brief glint in her favorite follower's eyes. Whether he was grateful he'd be going straight to the adult section and not the kiddie section or suspicious of her because he _always_ knew when he was being watched, she wasn't sure. Her mind was focusing on puzzles, so she didn't think she was activating his ten-foot radius sonar, but better to be safe than sorry.

"If it is a problem," Erika continued, "I can go get one of the other librarians. They would probably know the stacks better than me."

"No, that's fine," her tantei-kun said. He glanced at Mitsuhiko before continuing. "Actually, Mitsuhiko-kun needs help with current events. He'll need newspapers from say, the past month or so. As for me, we had an anti-drug class at school-"

 _...WHAT?_

"-and I didn't understand a lot of the terms. Where can I look up things about drugs?"

Erika smiled blandly and started to guide them through the library while inside, her brain was doing flip-flops. _Drugs? What the_ HELL _have you gotten into, tantei-kun? Why do drugs require you to visit families that seem to be slamming doors in your face? It's bad enough that you follow murders like a kicked puppy, now you're chasing after drugs? What the_ HELL _kinda_ DEEP SHIT _have you wandered into?_

She set up both Mitsuhiko and her favorite follower at a secluded corner of the library usually reserved for college students who are doing papers. Erika informed them that if they didn't understand any of the kanji to just come find her and she'd help them out.

Both nodded agreeably, but once Erika was hidden in the stacks doing shelving, she observed. The shrunken detective was easily doing three things at once: taking vigorous notes, reading through the newspapers, and cross-referencing something in all the books they'd found for him.

 _This is serious._ Erika shook her head. Chiisa _Tantei-kun, what_ am _I going to do with you?_

It was Wednesday, fully a week after Ayumi-chan got sick and was rushed to the ICU, when Ran began to realize just what was going on. Little Conan's Men's Day Out had ended, not with the smiling faces of a pair of boys who'd spent the day adventuring, but with the sullen and downtrodden looks of boys who'd just gotten a long string of bad news. Mitsuhiko had barely said two words before going over to Agasa's to call his mother, and Conan wore Shinichi's face of determination so thoroughly she was afraid to even ask, picturing Shinichi spouting off on a frustrating day in which a small army of people had somehow insulted his dear Sherlock Holmes - or worse - spitting out techno-babble about forensics or trajectories or the side effects of sodium chloride or some other detective jargon.

Monday morning brought Conan back in his little boy face, making small conversation as if the doom and gloom he'd brought home hadn't happened at all. Ran had actually begun to think she was simply imagining things, her overactive suspicions getting the better of her.

But Wednesday morning was when she learned that, as always, her instincts weren't wrong. Knocking on her father's door to announce breakfast, she slid it open to see that Conan's futon had never been set up; she knew because he always put it away after breakfast.

Frowning, she went into the study, where the game station was. It would not be the first time, she'd mused, to find him asleep in front of the TV, trying to increase his prowess in video games to no avail.

He was not there however, and that made her frown. He wasn't anywhere in the apartment, and she was beginning to worry when she finally went downstairs to the office and she finally found him. He was curled in her father's chair, chin and an arm barely reaching the top of the desk to pillow each other, glasses carelessly tossed on the phone.

For a moment Ran just stared, completely unable to understand what had happened to precipitate this, until she looked at what was under him. Library books on - Ran blinked and tried to remember the kanji - deadly nightshade? - medical journals on hallucinogens, chemistry and pharmaceutical articles. She could hardly read half the kanji, and by the arm that was pillowing the boy's neck she saw a piece of paper with scribbled notes. She recognized Conan's writing, she'd seen it enough when she checked his homework - only it was in kanji, things he shouldn't even be able to read. Ran found her breath quickening, her heart beating faster as she recognized bits of shorthand, anxiety welling in her stomach as she looked at the child again. Too many things were bubbling up in her mind; she didn't really know what to do. She continued to stare, but her mouth gave her away.

"... Shinichi?"

The boy stirred, a deep breath filling his nostrils as a bleary and sleep-fogged eye opened up.

"... Ran..." he mumbled, and the lack of any kind of suffix was louder in her ears than had he tacked on "nee-chan."

Then, suddenly, his blue eyes shot open, as if realizing just where he was, and he pitched backward, the wheels of the office chair spinning out from under him, the boy and the chair toppling over, papers and books flipping in the air to add flourish to the fall. Ran watched in disbelief as Conan struggled to hide the evidence, flustered and sputtering bits of sentences.

"Uwaa! I'm sorry... I fell asleep... I was... I couldn't understand... I... I was trying to..." the boy paused, Ran seeing the dark circles under his eyes, as he stared at the bit of handwritten paper, staring at his notes, his notes in Shinichi's shorthand. Ran watched his face, watched it darken and droop, his brown locks hiding his eyes, his free hand ball up in a fist, before she saw a deep breathe and the face lift, the look of boy who was caught. "I'm sorry... I..."

The pause lasted so long Ran couldn't stand it, but her body was frozen as she stared at this little boy that she'd known for so long, her fears and suspicions and her anxiety, her loss and betrayal and so many other emotions paralyzing her and preventing her from acting.

Something flickered on the child's face, something that looked pained, and finally, he spoke. "Gomen ne, Ran-nee-chan. Shinichi-niichan came for a visit last night. He said he wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing, but he didn't want to wake you. Then he asked what I was doing up so late at night, and I told him about how kids at school are really sick, and he looked at all the books I got from the library and helped me look through them. He even told me what to write. He said..."

The pain again, then,

"I didn't understand all of the words, but he seemed to follow what was going on. He got really worried and took off. He said to be careful. I tried to work some more, but it was harder without him, and..." Conan looked down. "He said, 'Be careful,' but he's an idiot, ne? He should have talked to you, ne? He should have..." and his little shoulders were shaking again.

Perfectly reasonable. Shinichi heard about the kids being sick, he had already cautioned Ran, saying it didn't sound like a run of the mill flu, hadn't he? He'd told her to be careful, hadn't he? He would stop by if he was worried, that was like him - he'd dragged himself to her when she was stuck in that building that was going to explode, had helped her disarm the bomb when he was only a wall away. He was always courteous about things like sleep, night-owl tendencies always had him mentioning the next morning that he'd thought of stopping by until he looked at the clock and realized she would likely be asleep. Something like this would spark his interest; it would. He could easily be up all night researching things and helping Conan take notes. Perfectly reasonable, it made perfect sense.

And yet...

And yet...

"Stupid Shinichi!" she shouted to the top of her lungs, startling the little boy in front of her as well as herself. "Stupid irresponsible Holmes-addict Shinichi! Making a kid take notes for him! He should have put you to bed!"

Yes, yes, anger. It was much easier to deal with anger, because it was perfectly reasonable.

Perfectly. Really.

Huffing, she collected all the books. "Didn't even take the books with him, what did he think was going to happen when he left with a cryptic comment like that in the overactive imagination of a child? Mou, he can be so thoughtless! Didn't even leave a note! Stupid Shinichi!"

Conan looked on with flat eyes, a wry grin under his tired circles. Ran had seen this look several times, and offered a glare reserved to the detective this boy... to the detective this boy looked like. "Don't you dare go thinking this is funny!" she snapped. "I've half a mind to keep you home from school just so you can catch up on your sleep! You'll be struggling to make it through the day as it is-"

"Uwaah, don't do that!" Conan cried out, little boy tones sprinkling his inflections. "I have to go to school!"

"Give me one good reason!" Ran shouted. "You're as bad a Shinichi! Letting yourself be taken in by him and not going to bed - it would serve you right!"

Conan offered a placating smile, hands raised in a similar gesture, "Gomen, ne? I was stupid, ne? I'm sorry, ne? Please let me go to school, ne?"

"You have exactly ten minutes to get ready!"

And the little boy was off like a shot, back upstairs. Ran stood in her father's office, books and articles in her arms, alone in the morning light, flushed with more than just anger.

But her instincts were wrong; it was all perfectly reasonable.

Right?

Ran was decidedly not speaking to Conan, mumbling something about irresponsible detectives that never called and stabbing at her eggs and fish with a veracity that had both Kogoro and Conan leaning back in fear. Kogoro, unaware of the bed of needles he'd walked into that morning, had put the morning news on, and it was the only conversation that could be heard at the table.

"And now for breaking news, a serious epidemic has taken hold of the citizens of Beika Prefecture. Specifically, its children."

Any and all thoughts at the breakfast table were suspended.

"Now, a substantial number of elementary children have been admitted to hospitals for common symptoms: most notably fever dreams and hallucinations. Doctors are at a loss as over two-dozen children flooded their doors in a day with this mysterious illness. People are advised to make sure they take their flu shots and other vaccines, and that if they experience any abnormal symptoms to consult their physician. We will have more on this story as it develops. In other news..."

Worry colored Conan's face, Ran saw, and the little boy had paused in his eating.

For all that she was angry, Ran put it aside in favor of getting rid of that terrible face Conan was making; it was too much like Shinichi for her to currently stand. She turned for her father.

"Ne, Dad, do you think you should be looking into this?"

The older man looked up from his newspaper. "Into what?"

"Dad! This! The kids and their getting sick! Even that idiot Shinichi," Conan visibly flinched, "said it didn't sound like the flu. I've been noticing the last few days that there are fewer kids in the morning; this could be serious. Shouldn't you be looking into it?"

Kogoro snorted. "Hmph. And who's going to pay me for it? I'm feeding you and that freeloader; I'll have you know. Besides, I'm in the middle of a job right now; you know that. I'm tailing that womanizer who's daring to cheat on that beautiful woman."

Conan made a snorting sound but quickly covered it with his tea. Ran gave him a level glare and decided if he wasn't going to be grateful she wouldn't try to help him. Huffing, she got up quickly and started pushing her dishes away, grabbing her bookbag and putting her shoes on before Conan even realized what she was doing. She heard a belated, "Wah! Wait up!" but she dutifully ignored it and power walked her way to school. Stupid Conan. Stupid Shinichi.

"And he didn't even knock on your door?" Sonoko demanded, chopsticks halfway to her mouth. Ran wondered if the other girl noticed that she'd dropped her rice about four minutes ago. The blonde daughter of a major zaibatsu was still inattentive of the fact, busy as she was in "irate girlfriend" mode. Sonoko huffed, actually huffed, as she explosively leaned back in her chair. "The nerve! How decidedly unromantic! Lech!"

"So-no-ko," Ran said plaintively, drawing her friend's name out. "He was probably going to leave a note but got side tracked with Conan-kun and his problems." Yeah, that was it, really; the other idea, the one she constantly toyed with, was too fantastic for words.

"How can you defend him?" Sonoko demanded, blessedly oblivious to her best friend's internal plight. In enthusiasm she slammed her fist down on the table, catching the attention of more than a few of their classmates. "He's dropped off the radar from how many months? He barely calls you for more than five minutes at five week intervals and now he stops by without even seeing you?! It's despicable!"

Ran flushed at the attention of her classmates, but it was a short-lived embarrassment; Sonoko's outbursts were common enough to only ever cause a blip on the radar.

"Just Suzuki bitching about that Kudo-guy."

"Who?"

"Kudo Shinichi, you know, that famous detective?"

"Oh, yeah. I'd about forgotten he even goes here. I haven't seen him in how long? Where is he?"

"Who knows? Probably too good to come to this school anymore. Always was a little cocky."

Ran frowned at the comments; it wasn't the first time she'd heard such talk. Sonoko heard it too, and despite her opinion of one Kudo Shinichi, she saw what the side conversation did to Ran, and in a common but often unnoticed moment of sensitivity, she let the subject drop until after school. Ran offered a smile of thanks, offering a piece of her own boxed lunch as a peace offering. It was these kinds of moments that other people didn't see in her best friend, caught up as they were in her superficial tendencies, her healthy interest in members of the opposite sex, her propensity to gossip, her staggering wealth. Even Shinichi, observant and keen eyed as he was, was not yet emotionally mature enough to see this side of Sonoko.

After school, Sonoko dragged Ran off to the roof. For all that anime and manga made it an isolated spot for lead characters to meet secretly, the roof of Ran's school was actually quite popular. Many a free period was whiled away on the roof even in the frigid winter months. It wasn't until after school, when everyone was in a club, that it saw less action and Sonoko used that to her advantage.

"Ran," she said in a quiet moment of seriousness, "How can you keep pining for him if he keeps hurting you like that?"

The teen was taken aback by the question, uncertain how to answer. She couldn't well share her thoughts and suspicions, irrational as they were - as she kept telling herself. Sighing, she pushed those feelings aside and leaned against the safety railing, remembering their conversation on the phone over the weekend.

"He wants to come back, Sonoko," she said simply, a breeze picking up and running its fingers through her hair. "I don't think he likes the case he's on; he doesn't like how long it's taking, and he doesn't like how it takes him away from home, from me. I... when he called me this weekend, there was so much pain in his voice. Every time I hear it, I can hear the sincerity."

The blond watched her best friend, the far away look on her face as the wind continued to play with her hair. Finally, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "He's still an idiot for not seeing you, even to watch you sleep."

Ran smiled at the thought. "Ew, that's creepy," she giggled. "Shinichi the Stalker."

Sonoko laughed outright. "All he needs is a black trench coat and shades."

The image was disturbingly cute, and Ran offered her own giggle. "Hiding behind lampposts and mailboxes."

"Ducking into doorways and around corners!" Sonoko added.

"Reading the paper upside down!" Ran continued, the image becoming more and more distorted until the two were clutching their bellies in giggles.

"Haah," Ran said, holding her ribs. "I needed that!"

Sonoko rubbed at the corner of her eyes, giggles still escaping through her nose. "The famous Kudo Shinichi, caught stalking his girlfriend!"

Ran's face fell slightly, remembering what her classmates had said. "If he keeps working on this case, he won't be famous for much longer."

Sonoko looked up. "What do you mean?"

Turning back around to lean against the railing, Ran looked out over the rail to the elementary building three blocks down where Conan was. "He hasn't been seen in public for a while. Heiji-kun shows up in the news more than he does these days. I'm worried that if this keeps up, he'll fade back to obscurity. I know how much he liked public attention."

Sonoko snorted. "Glory-hogging show off," she scoffed.

Ran shook her head. "No, it's deeper than that." She turned to her friend. "When did he first get media attention?"

The blond shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, a couple years ago. Why?"

"It was two weeks after his parents left for America."

Sonoko blinked. "Oh?"

Ran smiled, remembering the time. "He loves his parents dearly, don't get me wrong, and I love them too. But they were very rarely at home to begin with, and when he was fourteen they disappeared entirely. His father off and running from his editors, his mother adventuring with him; Shinichi is a little attention starved."

Sonoko snorted at the very thought.

"He is," Ran defended, standing up straight. "He wants people to like him, but he doesn't really know how to go about doing it. He almost got me to hate him when we first met."

"I remember him saying you'd make a great Dr. Watson."

"Saying I was definitely fat enough," Ran corrected, scoffing at the memory. "But when he explained that Watson was Holmes' best friend, that he kept Holmes active and healthy and got him off drugs, well, Watson suddenly seemed like a good guy to play."

"As I recall, you got back at him pretty well."

"Oh yes, he couldn't stand being a Sailor Scout, but that's what you get for being four." Ran smiled again. "He was just so happy that someone would listen to him babble about his interests, he put up with anything I put him through. I swear, he'll do anything to make people happy." The teen leaned back on the railing, watching as the elementary school let out, a sea of small kids crossing the streets. She tried to see if she could spot Conan. "But with other people, he doesn't really know how to handle them. With a strong sense of humanity and a weak sense of social aptitude, he'll take whatever display of affection he can get. The public idolizes him, and he has a substitute for his parents." She gave a small, half laugh. "If he has time to think about it, I'm sure it makes him even more lonely."

Sonoko looked at her best friend, gauging and thinking, before taking a deep breath and putting a smile on. "All right. That's that. I still think he's a jerk and an unromantic bump on a log, but you won't be swayed, so let's see what we can do about cheering you up. Come on, let's go shopping!"

"Sonoko, we went shopping last week," Ran was complaining as Conan trotted up to them. He gave her a hopeful look, but she decided she was too busy with her best friend. "Dad hasn't gotten paid yet for the job he's on, and I really don't want to be embarrassed again."

Sonoko grinned evilly. "Oooh, don't tell me you didn't have dreams of meeting dear Shinichi in that tiny red-"

"SONOKO!" Ran shouted, her face flushing instantly. "There are kids here!"

The blond laughed outright. "Oh relax, he doesn't know what lingerie is, do you chibi?"

But Conan's face was turning decidedly red as well at the word, and he quickly fell in step behind Ran to hide it, though his teen guardian did see it.

"Anyway, I wasn't talking about clothes shopping, though I do think we should schedule a day to go looking for things for the chibi here. You'd mentioned that you were getting low on rice, right? Why not have me help you with the food shopping! Come on, I can help carry food and the two of us can check out the cute check-out boys!"

Ran gave a flat smile. "Ah, so that's what you want to do to cheer me up," she muttered. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Conan perk up at the comment, before looking down guiltily.

"It's decided, then. Come on, let's go," the blond said, grabbing her best friend by the elbow and pulling them off to the train station.

At the supermarket things went steadily downhill for Ran. It went something like this:

"Ooh, Ran, look at that guy in the gym shorts! Those legs are to die for! Say, Ran, how about having crab?"

"That's too expensive, Sonoko."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, if you want I'll pay for it. You want crab, don't you, chibi?"

A flat, "No."

"Hmph! Rude little - ah, Ran! Look at these cute little chopstick sets! You could get one for everyone, even Shinichi!"

Then there was,

" 'Oooh! If only Shinichi were here to help me carry the groceries! We could each hold half the bag and walk down the street looking for all the world as if we were a married couple!' Isn't that right, Ran?"

"Sonoko!"

"Ran-nee-chan, if... if the bags are heavy do you want me to help you carry them?"

"I'm fine Conan-kun."

"Oh, but isn't he cute? He wants to be your husband too! But it's too bad, chibi, you're a little young for her tastes. Anyway, did you see that guy doing the bagging? He was totally hot, don't you think? Hah, I think I've fallen in love... But no! I mustn't be swayed from my beloved Kaitou Kid!"

"Who doesn't even know you exist."

"You shut up, chibi! What do you know?"

This was followed shortly by,

"... and then he said he wasn't interested in a two-timing tripe like her, and she said it served him right for being an insensitive jerk, but then that new boy showed up and said he didn't want anything to do with her if she was going to be that way, and then..."

"Ran-nee-chan, does she ever shut up?"

"Oooh! That brat!"

And so, by the time Ran finally trudged her way home, Conan carrying one giant grocery bag he couldn't see over and she was ready to take a long, hot bath and forget the afternoon had even happened. But of course,

"Ran, it's about time you came home. I'm starving! When's supper?"

Conan beat her to the punch. "Ojii-san! She only just got home; you can't just expect her to get dinner ready by magic. Shouldn't you be helping her?"

"Brat!" Kogorou said, lunging forward and grabbing Conan by the head, "I don't need you telling me what to do!" And he pitched Conan, grocery bag and all, across the office and down the hall, foodstuffs spilling everywhere.

Ran decided she'd had enough.

"Mou!" She gruffly dumped her bags onto the nearest table and leveled a pointed finger at her father. "You just made a mess of all the food I was going to use for tonight's dinner, so now you can pick it all up! You are not getting one drop of beer until it's all off the floor!"

"But," Kogoro said weakly to his daughter, "But..."

"Now!"

"Y-yes!"

Stomping down the hall as her father got to his knees, she bent down and crouched in front of a certain little boy. She noted that one of the cans of soda she's bought had broken open, covering the boy's clothes and the hardwood floor beneath him. "And you," she said in dark tones. It gave her a certain amount of pleasure, she darkly admitted, to see him back up and squirm.

"I-I'm sorry, Ran-nee-chan," he stuttered quickly. "I knew you were still mad and I wanted to do something for you and Ojii-san-"

"And you," Ran said again in much softer tones, "had better get changed before you get too sticky." Pulling out a handkerchief, she wiped the worst of the damage off his forehead. Bending forward, she added, "Thank you for trying to look out for me."

Getting back up, Ran turned from the stunned Conan and went back to commanding her father. "Honestly, Dad, don't you know not to just pile things?" Huffing again, she went back to her grocery bags, digging her arms under them and hefting them to the kitchen. Her bath would have to wait.

It was an hour later before she finally kicked her father out from under foot. Much as Shinichi constantly said the older man should pull his weight, he was truly hopeless in the kitchen, and it was just much easier to do it all herself without Kogoro muttering under his breath, or using salt instead of sugar, or cutting himself trying to dice vegetables. Even Shinichi had been easier to teach cook, though she smiled when she remembered some of the more disastrous first attempts. The first month when his parents left him on his own, she would come to school desperate to find him for fear that the poor detective had given himself food poisoning of some kind, and more than once he would meet her and ask what he'd done wrong as he explained how he'd tried to cook something.

It wasn't that Shinichi was a bad cook, just inexperienced, and perhaps a little too smart for his own good. She watched him try to make dinner once, and realized that he kept thinking it should be simple, and get frustrated when he messed up or wasn't sure of an instruction, which lead him to think he was doing something wrong, going back, and becoming so absorbed in figuring out where he'd gone wrong (when he hadn't even done anything yet!) that something would inevitably burn or be forgotten.

Once she explained that cooking was like solving a mystery, where all the clues had to be gathered and lined up before it could be presented, it came much easier to him.

After she put the sweet potatoes in the oven and set the time, she wiped her hands on her apron and pulled it over her head. Finally, now she would get out of her uniform and into something more comfortable!

"Ran-nee-chan?"

The teen turned. "Conan-kun?" she said, looking down. The boy had changed into jean shorts and an oversized sweatshirt.

"I..." he flushed, looking down in embarrassment. "I drew a bath for you," he said simply. "You have to wait for everything to cook, right? So I thought..."

Something in her chest warmed, and Ran crouched down as she so often did, putting a hand on his head before leaning forward and kissing the child's forehead. Her instincts were wrong; there was no way this child... But she pushed the thoughts all aside, again, in favor of acknowledging what this child had done. "That was very thoughtful of you," she said softly, smiling as his suddenly red face.

Standing, she pulled at her necktie and went to enjoy her bath. "You're more thoughtful than that idiot Shinichi," she called out, more to herself than anything else, thoughts dissolving at the idea of a good long soak.

She never heard the soft reply, "That's one way of putting it."

Two days later, Friday morning, Conan gave a great yawn as he trudged into his classroom. After his near-miss with Ran discovering who he was, he had deliberately (and reluctantly) pulled away from his detective work and would need to stay in "little-kid" mode through at least the weekend to keep assuring her that he wasn't who he really was.

But damn if he didn't miss just talking to her. Shinichi and Ran, inseparable childhood friends. Despite their differences, despite how bored Ran could get with his talking of Holmes and mysteries, despite how bored he could get with some of the things Ran was interested in, the two of them could talk about anything for hours on end, even if they'd heard it all before. Shinichi hadn't realized until he was truncated just how much he relied on his time with Ran to decompress from whatever he went through. Gruesome murders that made even his iron stomach turn could be put into perspective after an afternoon with Ran to help him re-center himself.

It wasn't the same, talking with Haibara or even Agasa. Haibara was too cold and focused on whatever the task at hand was, and Agasa's method of dealing with things involved making things blow up in his home. Hattori came close, as the only equal that Shinichi ever really had (who was legal, in any case. Hang-gliding-thieves need not apply...) and if the two of them shared mysteries over the phone or worked a case together, Shinichi would find himself re-centered. But Hattori was all the way down in Osaka and any sort of regular phone calls could ultimately be traced back to one Edogawa Conan.

Shinichi needed Ran, but even his phone calls to her couldn't do what they needed to do. He couldn't talk about what he really needed to talk about for fear of putting her in danger. There were times, like the previous night, when he just lay awake, throwing the pros and cons of telling her around in his mind. Thoughts like: "Is Ran really safe not knowing? Or is the association enough to put her in danger and should she know so she can be keep an eye out for herself?" conflicted with: "I've been lying to her for so long, telling her now would just tear her apart and I don't want to see her that hurt." In the end, his thoughts circled round and round and he got nowhere. But that didn't change the desire to tell her.

Conan yawned again, taking his seat. Haibara walked over and waited patiently while Conan pulled his Conan mask more to the surface and pushed Shinichi back down. Rubbing a smidge of sand out of his eyes, he turned to her. "How's it going?" he asked quietly.

Haibara said nothing. She and Agasa had been working on proper treatments for the drug. Given the hallucinogens it was based off of, the two scientists were fairly certain that the drug would work it's way out of anyone's system. After all, these sorts of drugs created addicts who needed a new fix to keep the high going. It was temporary. But that didn't stop Hiabara and Agasa from coming up with something to alleviate symptoms and ease withdrawal to remove dependency, depending on how potent the damn drug was.

"That bad, huh?" he asked around another yawn.

"Agasa-hakase is taking me on vacation next week."

Conan blinked. "Huh?"

"There's a biochemistry convention down in Kyoto next week and the two of us will be going there." Haibara raised an eyebrow.

Conan nodded. With signs of Them having made this poison, Agasa was making sure that Haibara was well hidden by removing her from Tokyo for a while. It also prevented her from getting exposed to whatever was administering the damn drug to elementary students. No doubt a lot of parents would be taking their children away for a "vacation" to stop the spread of the epidemic. Thus far, the city hadn't been quarantined since the epidemic didn't seem to be transmittable, as the news had pointed out that morning. However, the doctors and the media didn't know yet that this was a poison and not a disease.

"Haibara, I was thinking of visiting Ayumi and Genta after school. Would you like to come along?" To get more samples, went left unsaid.

"No, thank you. I have a project to work on."

The mini detective blinked, his observations tallying up in his brain and raising the volume. "Where's Mitsuhiko?" Don't let him be sick too...

"He was paged down to the office before you arrived."

Thank God. "Ah. Thanks."

Nothing more needed to be said, so Haibara went back to her seat and class began.

Almost two hours later, Conan's volume was rising, as Mitsuhiko still hadn't returned. At the first break he got, he went up to the teacher, easily maneuvering through a class that only had half its students.

"Ne, sensei? Where's Mitsuhiko-kun?"

The teacher looked down and gave a small, sad smile. "With so many students sick," she explained, "the school is setting up some counseling. Mitsuhiko-kun is with the school psychologist right now. Apparently he's been so worried about Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun that he hasn't been eating at home and his parents insisted. He should be back during the next class."

Conan's stomach dropped out from under him. He turned and noted that Haibara was close by, looking in his direction, having overheard everything. The small scientist's eyes glittered with something before she turned and went back to the assignment.

Conan sat down heavily and looked down at his worksheet. Given how much time he'd been investigating everything with Mitsuhiko, he should have noticed. This case was different. People they knew and cared about were the victims. And while Shinichi was old enough to separate what he needed to in order to keep investigating, Mitsuhiko was still just a child. He hadn't developed the coping mechanisms for the more dire aspects of detective work. It was part of the reason why Conan always kept them away from any dead bodies that they (continuously) stumbled across.

Of course all the investigating that he had been doing had shown Mitsuhiko that this illness was deliberate. That someone had purposefully drugged the children of Beika. And of course, Mitsuhiko would be affected. But, like always, Shinichi had plowed ahead, following clue after clue. No body, no harm, right? The diminutive detective could be such a dimwit sometimes.

The door to the classroom slid open and Conan was interrupted from his self-abasing as Mitsuhiko walked in. Conan weaved through the desks and walked right up to his skinny, freckled friend.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Mitsuhiko gave a small grimace before smiling. "I am well, Conan-kun. Saiko-sensei was wonderfully attentive."

Oh yeah, Saiko-sensei, the school shrink. Saiko was one of the faculty members that Conan kept his head down and avoided. He was the school psychologist back when he'd gone through school the first time round as Shinichi and given how often Shinichi got in trouble with his pranks and attempts to get attention (yes, he did recognize his behavior back then as attention-grabbing, he'd just die before he admitted it to anyone other than himself... or Ran...), he'd been a frequent guest of Saiko's office. To avoid any confusion with being himself, Conan steered clear of the office whenever he could. But those where his own issues. This was about Mitsuhiko at the moment.

So Conan put on his own, small smile. "Did it help? Talking to him?"

"A little, yes," the skinny boy replied. "He did not criticize me for our investigations."

Oh shit, Mitsuhiko, why did you tell him we were investigating? "You mentioned we were investigating?"

"No, I did not mention our current case," Mitsuhiko looked a little put out. "You have told all of us repeatedly that it is best not to mention our mysteries until we are ready to present our findings. Adults will not listen until we have all the facts for them to hear. I spoke of other investigations that the five of us have partaken in."

Shinichi let out a looooong internal sigh of relief.

"Sorry, Mitsuhiko-kun. This case is..."

"Difficult," the freckled boy supplied. "I wish to keep investigating. I would like to know who would hurt our friends and so many other classmates."

Actually, I'd rather keep you as far away from Them as possible, Conan frowned. "I hate to say it, but Ran-nee-chan found out I was investigating. I think we should take a break this weekend and start up again Monday."

"Will that not let the criminals get further away from us?"

"Maybe," Conan gave a large smile. "Or it might give them more time to leave clues."

Mitsuhiko brightened considerably. "Very well. Monday it shall be. Now, what have I missed in class?"

"Edogawa Conan, please come to the office. Edogawa Conan, please come to the office."

Said child looked up from putting away the remains of his lunch and blinked. "Huh?"

Haibara and Mitsuhiko looked at each other and then at Conan.

"Edogawa-kun, what have you done this time?"

"Eh? Conan-kun has done something mischievous enough to be called to the office? Is that not unlike you, Conan-kun?"

"Hey, hey," Conan glared. "Haibara, no need to make jokes."

Mitsuhiko and Haibara smiled unrepentantly. Well, Mitsuhiko smiled; Haibara merely had a gleam in her eyes. Conan let out a sigh and stood. "Mitsuhiko-kun, I'll meet you after school and we'll go visit Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun."

The skinny boy's wide smile softened and he nodded.

"Haibara."

"Edogawa-kun."

So Conan left his lunchbox with his friends, knowing they'd take care of it, and went down the halls to the office to see why he'd been paged. A secretary pulled him through a door into guidance and Conan started to worry. He avoided this area. And, sure enough, the secretary knocked on Saiko's door and the psychologist waved Conan right in.

Saiko was an old pro, someone who had been at the school for pushing on twenty years, to say nothing of the experiences he had before being hired. His hair was receding, but his brown eyes remained friendly and sharp. Conan pushed his glasses up his nose in a vain attempt to emphasize the difference between his current identity and when he'd first been in Saiko's office over ten years ago after fingerprinting his entire grade (and teachers) with permanent marker.

"Hello, Conan-kun."

"Hello-" he paused, pretending he didn't know the name.

"Bakekatsuwagawa Saiko. Please call me Saiko-sensei, I know my family name can be a bear to say."

"Hello Saiko-sensei."

The psychologist smiled and closed the door behind him for privacy. "Shall we sit down?" he said, indicating the large cushy beanbags in a corner, ones that little kids can never really refuse.

Conan sat down, desperately trying to call up any knowledge he had of grief counseling and how a child of his apparent age was supposed to act, and keeping in mind the personality that the administrators of the school saw.

So he hopped into one of the beanbags smiled brightly, and asked, "What's up?"

Saiko gave a warm and gentle smile. "We've never really had a chance to talk, Conan-kun."

Damn straight, and there's a good reason for that...

"I know that two of your friends were the first to fall to this sickness that's sweeping through your classmates. I just wanted to check in with you."

Conan looked down and adjusted his glasses again, trying to figure a way out of this without revealing too much about himself. About the only thing he could think of for a response was the truth.

"I want them back."

The psychologist gave a small, sympathetic smile. "I know you do. So does Mitsuhiko-kun. And your teachers and all the parents. You're not alone, Conan-kun."

"I know," Conan said, trying to look appeased. "Ran-nee-chan will be taking me and Mitsuhiko-kun to see Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun today." Best method of attack, chatter. Little kids sometimes just couldn't stop chattering. "Kojima-ojii-san called last night. Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan were moved to a different part of the hospital so we can go visit. We couldn't before."

"Oh?" Saiko asked with a confused raise of an eyebrow. "I recall Mitsuhiko-kun telling me that you lucked out in getting to see them when Ayumi-chan was taken to ICU. He was rather jealous and regretted going home so early."

URHG! Just because Mitsuhiko-kun hasn't talked about the investigation we're doing apparently doesn't mean he wasn't talking about what I was doing. He didn't know I was getting samples for Haibara. Conan, after a long time of difficult practice, kept all his panic and fast thinking hidden behind a small childish smile. "Yeah, wasn't that great? Ah, but if Mitsuhiko-kun feels jealous maybe I shouldn't have gone in to see our friends." Come on, take the sidetracking...

"Conan-kun, just because you received an opportunity that Mitsuhiko-kun didn't doesn't mean you should feel guilty about it. Things happen beyond your control. Yes, it is unfortunate that Mitsuhiko-kun did not get the same chance as you, but just because you have an opportunity that someone else doesn't, doesn't mean you should hold back. If you hold back you'll miss many things that could occur in your life."

Goooooooood psychologist, Conan let out a breath of relief. Time to continue the roll of putting others ahead of himself. It was something that Shinichi wasn't known for; Shinichi was cocky and arrogant, even as a kid. Saiko would remember Shinichi as someone who would think of himself first and how his decisions affected others as a distant second. Conan, however, would come across as the exact opposite. A perfect cover.

"But Saiko-sensei, isn't that awfully selfish? Isn't being selfish a bad thing?"

Saiko gave another friendly smile, completely fooled by Conan's innocent and childish question. After all, children had a difficult time seeing things in shades of grey; life was either black or white. It wasn't until their teenage years that people started questioning both sides of an issue. Conan thanked his brain for having him study child psychology after he was compacted to better play the part of a child.

"You'll find, Conan-kun, that sometimes it is okay to be a little selfish. Being selfish is only a bad thing if you are never selfless. When you think of only yourself and never consider others, that's when you become a hurtful person. But always putting others first will hurt yourself. You don't want to be hurt, do you, Conan-kun?"

"No," Conan mumbled, utterly pleased with the divergence.

"Good. So don't feel bad if you have an opportunity that someone else doesn't, alright?"

"Okay."

Saiko gave a small, warm smile, and leaned back into his beanbag chair, stretching his back. Conan noted that Saiko's age was probably making it more difficult to use this method of talking "levelly" with the kids.

"Are you hurting, Saiko-sensei?"

Warm eyes looked over at Conan and gave an embarrassed smile. "I'm not as young as I used to be, Conan-kun. Would you mind if I were to sit in the chair?"

"Nope!" he replied brightly. Then he bit back a yawn.

Saiko settled himself into his chair with a contented sigh. Noting Conan's not-yawn, he asked, "Conan-kun, are you getting enough sleep?"

Argh. How many syndromes does "lack of sleep" fall under and how do I convince him that lack of sleep is just lack of sleep and not an underlying issue...

"Yeah, I guess."

"Your teachers have mentioned that you're often yawning in class, to the point of getting other students to yawn. Mitsuhiko commented that when you're investigating something, you never stop until you've finished your case. Are you investigating something now?"

Deep inside Conan, he fumed and railed. Saiko had always been perceptive, but it seemed that age had honed that skill, much to Conan's frustration. Either he admitted investigating something (but what?) or the lack of sleep could lead to questioning about some sort of syndrome or disorder. He couldn't use the Shonen Tantei group as an excuse because Mitsuhiko was part of the group and hadn't let anything on about an investigation.

"Well of course I'm investigating," Conan said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Ojii-san is a detective and I always try and help him with his investigating." Conan paused and screwed his face up in confusion. "Is it bad to help Ojii-san?"

Saiko grinned with a small look of relief. Hah. Take that. I'm a normal, curious little boy. I'm trying to help the people I'm with the same way any kid would try and help their parents in something that was interesting for them. So there!

"No, Conan-kun, it isn't bad to help someone out. Just remember that you need your sleep as well. What is your Ojii-san investigating?"

Like I'm telling you. "I can't tell you!" he chirped. "Ojii-san says that it would break the promise he makes with his clients. He promises to be private, so he won't tell anyone."

"But he's the Great Sleeping Kogoro, isn't he?"

"Yup!" Gah! Do I have to sound so proud of him?

"Doesn't he always tell everything to the police? To the authorities?"

Oh, so you think you can fool me with that, do you? Sorry, no way, no how, Saiko-sensei. "Of course! Because when he investigates a crime that's what you're supposed to do."

"So he tells someone when they are supposed to know."

"Yup!"

"Then what about me, Conan-kun? I'm worried about you. I'm worried about all the students in this school during such a difficult time. It's the police's job to know about crime so that they can take action to prevent it or give out consequences. My job is to try and make sure all the students here are healthy. But to do that I need information. You're entitled to secrets, but sometimes it's not a good idea to keep them. Do you understand?"

Saiko-sensei, you'd probably have a heart attack after just hearing one of my secrets. You're not getting a thing out of me. "Yup! If anything bad happens, I'll let you know!"

The balding man gave a small sigh, but he still gave a friendly smile. "That's all I can ask of you, Conan-kun. I'm going to give your guardians a call to make sure you get enough sleep. My office is always open for you."

No thanks, I'll go back to hiding in my classroom now.

Conan tried not to look too happy that he was getting the hell out of there.

When the final bell rang, it had startled Conan awake. The detective trapped as a boy hadn't even realized he'd dozed off for the last hour of school, but he felt better for it; his eyes were burning less, and there was an alertness he didn't remember having before. He pounded the halls with hundreds of other students to the footlockers where he pulled off his school scuffs and pulled out his beloved sneakers. He stared at them a moment, wishing he could use them to soccer-ball someone into the next week, but alas he had no one to attach the label "distributor" to other than the horrific visages of Gin and Vodka.

Sighing, he pushed that thought away violently as he laced himself up and pulled his backpack over his shoulders. Letting the flow of student traffic carry him outside, he paused at the gate and turned back to the school (only after giving a dark glare at the building across the street and whatever anonymous stalker had tried to follow him there) to see if he could spot Mitsuhiko. It would be good for him to visit with Genta and Ayumi, and it might relieve the pit of anxiety that was still in his stomach over this whole ordeal.

Stupid Shinichi, angsting over everything won't help, don't be the idiot Ran thinks you are. Don't blame her; between never having a chance to call her to being away all the time to freaking her out a few days ago with my notes, it's a miracle she wants anything to do with an insensitive clout like me. Ergh, what did you just say about the angst? Suck it up and deal, Kudo, don't be a baby.

Conan sucked in a deep breath and tried to shake the negative feelings off himself.

"Are you feeling cold, Conan-kun?" Mistuhiko asked, strolling up to him. He held a wrapped article in his hands. "With the late autumn breeze the temperature can sometimes feel quite chilly."

"Not really," the shrunken detective replied, pulling himself from the gate he'd been leaning against. "Come on, let's go to the hospital and see how Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan are doing."

"Yes! It will raise our spirits to the utmost!" The freckled boy bounced ahead, backpack jiggling with his movements. Conan jogged after him.

"Hey, what's that in your hands?" he asked, eyeing the present in the boy's hand.

"I know not!" Mitsuhiko said, his face and posture suddenly becoming haughty. "It was a present bestowed upon my footlocker!" He preened as if that explained everything. Conan just blinked.

"... Huh?"

Mitsuhiko became suddenly agape in shock. "Conan-kun, do you not know? Do you not see? It is a present from a girl!"

"... And how does that follow?" Conan replied, flat faced as he began to realize where this was going.

"Is it not obvious?" Mitsuhiko asked in shocked indignation. "Why, in every manga in existence, a girl who likes a boy will secretly bestow some kind of gift to said boy, in erstwhile secret so that the boy can be unaware of her identity; but because of the thoughtfulness and care taken in the choice and delivery of the gift, the boy learns the identity and the two fall in love! Conan-kun, when I solve this mystery I will know whom my wife will be! Haah," he sighed in contentment as he clutched the wrapped article to his chest. "I dare not even guess yet as to who has fallen in love with me. I hold little hope that it is Ayumi-chan, still in the hospital as she is..." his face fell briefly, but his shook it off as Conan had done earlier. "But there is one other that I dare hope for! If it is she, then I will no doubt be guaranteed a life of fulfillment and happiness!"

Conan finally stopped walking, his flat stare even flatter, and ironic grin of disbelief twisting his mouth. "You actually believe that?" he managed to ask.

"One is a fool if one does not!" Mitsuhiko squawked; enraged at the mere thought that someone didn't.

Even with this second childhood I will never understand kids, Conan decided. Against Mitsuhiko's conviction, the abbreviated youth could only shrug his shoulders. "You can't figure it out if you don't open it," he said simply.

"You are correct!" And with reckless abandon Mitsuhiko proceeded to rip open the gift and walk at the same time. Conan, if nothing else, appreciated the boy's ability to do two physically demanding things at once. It was proof of potential, if nothing else.

Once the wrapping paper was savagely eviscerated and discarded, Mitsuhiko held his prize up for all the world to see. "Is it not wonderful?" he beamed. Conan looked at the beginner's chemistry set and raised an eyebrow.

"It's certainly appropriate for you," the boy muttered.

"It is! And so is the person who sent it!" Mitsuhiko replied, already trying to rip the heavy plastic casing off. True to form, it bent and groaned under the pressure, but did not give.

"You already know who gave it to you?" Conan asked, watching in near-mute interest at the boy's sheer enthusiasm. They paused at a corner as a light turned. A teenager pushed the button to grant the pedestrian's passage.

"Of course! Only Haibara-san has an interest in science that equals mine, and so she is the only likely candidate! Oh, we will be happy, Conan-kun, just you wait and see!"

Struggling, Mitsuhiko finally admitted defeat and pulled out a small pocketknife (the boy was a regular Japanese Boy Scout whenever the Detective Boys went on a treasure hunt) and serrated the offensive plastic until it at last lost the war. With the tear, Mitsuhiko grabbed the two ends and pulled, trying to force the rip to open further and free the coveted chemistry set. Sweaty palms slipped, Conan observed, and the heavy plastic casing twisted out of Mitsuhiko's hands, thumping to the ground.

"Aah!"

Conan's eyes snapped back up to Mitsuhiko, something making them widen as he saw the boy holding the base of his palm. "I have cut myself," the freckled youth muttered, licking the tiny wound while pulling out a handkerchief to apply pressure. Conan's senses heightened, his eyes entering hi definition and his ears flipping to surround sound as the little television in the back of his head had the invisible remote stolen from him and set to full volume. Synapses fired back and forth in his brain in rapid fire succession, mental pictures of Genta and Ayumi, the cuts on their hands and wrists, the plastic casings in their rooms, the plastic casings they'd seen in other rooms when they had done their investigating nearly a week ago, going door to door, and it all fit together.

"Mitsuhiko!" Conan shouted in alarm, grabbing the boy's wrist and yanking back under his scrutiny.

"Uwah, Conan-kun, what-"

"You've just been poisoned!"

... Holy shit what?

"Conan-kun," Mitsuhiko whimpered, "You're scaring me."

"Those bastards; it's so obvious! Why didn't I see it when we searched Genta's and Ayumi's rooms! They both had plastic casings that held treasured things: the Yaiba stuffed doll, that weird trophy box, and in the apartments! There were similar cases in the other apartments! And both Genta and Ayumi had cuts on their hands. It was a blood-borne pathogen, we knew that much, and the best way to do that is to give the kids a cut that wouldn't be thought about. The plastic is probably coated in that tropane alkaloid concoction, and even then, full symptoms won't display for several days. Mitsuhiko-kun! We have to get you to a hospital!"

The freckled boy was actually shaking. "C-Conan-kun... I feel fine..."

"You won't! You'll have the symptoms of a cold by the end of the day. Oh, I'm such an idiot for not figuring it out sooner, the kids probably all found presents like that in their shoe-lockers! Come on! We have to get you to a hospital!"

Conan shouting explicative after explicative and tugging on the petrified Mitsuhiko.

"Boys, boys, is there a problem here?" Officer Takagi asked, crouching down to their level.

"Yes there is!" Conan said in clipped but panicked tones. "This boy has just been poisoned with a propane alkaloid concoction, it's the same thing that's making all the kids at Beika Elementary sick, we have to get him to the hospital now before symptoms start manifesting!"

Officer Takagi simply stared, wide eyed. Oh, it was what an adult cop would be expected to do when a seeming seven-year-old just gave him orders like that, but there really wasn't much acting involved.

"I'm serious," Conan insisted. "He was cut on the plastic and-"

Takagi held up a hand, making his eyes narrow and gauging.

Kudo growled, actually growled in frustration as realization that he wouldn't be listened to sunk in, and Takagi watched the wheels turn at what he assumed to be maximum speed in the boy's head as he tried to come up with an excuse. Fumbling himself, the faux cop quickly had one pop into his head, and he let his face light up in recognition.

Conan blinked for only a split second and seized upon the opportunity. "Yes! That's right, he's been looking at this case in his spare time and he thinks this is a case of poisoning, not disease, so we need to get Mitsuhiko-kun to a hospital and-"

Officer Takagi turned to Mitsuhiko and eyed him. "How are you feeling, boy?"

There was no doubt that the freckled youth was scared out of his mind, he was shaking and pale, trails of sweat tickling his forehead. "I'm," his voice cracked, "I feel fine."

The officer nodded, and turned to offer his back. "Better to be safe than sorry, right? Let's prove your friend wrong."

He saw the grimace on Conan's face, but the sad fact was there was no helping it. He had a role to play, and this was the best he could do. Mitsuhiko reluctantly climbed onto Officer Takagi's back, and the boy disguised as a man nodded to the boy trapped as a child before boldly crossing a busy street, holding up a hand to the oncoming traffic, letting his uniform do the talking.

"The radio's broken," Takagi offered when he saw Conan's suspicious glances at the aforementioned item. "I'm technically off duty, I was going to go to a repair shop; precinct budget cuts won't service them in house anymore." And, depending what precinct you worked, that was actually true, and Conan seemed to know this.

It was a six block hike to the hospital, all uphill, of course, but Takagi's uniform helped a lot, people naturally parted when an officer asked them to step aside, and it was amazing how quickly traffic came to a stop to accommodate a man with a whistle and white gloves.

"Ah, here we are, Conan-kun," Officer Takagi offered to the still-shaking Mitsuhiko. When he swung his head around to glance at the freckled boy, he couldn't hold in a gasp as he realized how pale the boy had suddenly become. That could be explained away with fear, but the glassy, dilated eyes could not, and Takagi realized that Conan was right.

Not that he doubted it, but seeing it happening as the teen-toddler predicted was always a little unnerving.

"Mitsuhiko-kun!" Conan said, alarm coloring his tones. Takagi hitched the sick boy higher up on his back and maneuvered to open the door to the hospital. Lengthening his stride, he bee-lined to the first desk he saw.

"I'm an officer of Beika Headquarters Police," he said with authority. "We've been investigating the poisoning of the children at Beika Elementary and we have reason to believe that this child has just been infected with propane alkaloids, and will soon be experiencing hallucinations. I need you to test him and treat him, and test this as well." He held up the plastic container Kudo had accused and slammed it on the desk. The nurse clerk looked at him in shock. "Well?" he demanded, deepening his voice and raising it to turn a few heads. "What are you waiting for? This is top priority!"

"Propane alkaloids you say?" a man in a white lab coat said, jogging up.

"Yes," Takagi repeated, shifting the now obviously sick Mitsuhiko into his arms. "Every child that has gotten sick has received a package wrapped in heavy plastic like this," he gestured to the offensive item, "and we have reason to believe that that is the cause of this epidemic. Now get this kid to ER before more symptoms start manifesting!"

The lab rat pulled the phone from the desk and went on the intercom, calling all doctors, as it were, while snatching the plastic at the same time. Within seconds, it seemed, doctors were swarming the three, pulling the petrified Mitsuhiko onto a portable bed and rolling him into ER, Takagi and Kudo trailing behind, following the mob into a cubicle. Timing it on his watch, Takagi watched no less the four vials of blood were taken from the boy, a PICC line inserted into his elbow and sensors set up to monitor him, swabs taken from the cut on his palm (at Kudo's prompting), and a mild sedative administered before Mitsuhiko choked on his panic; all in fifteen minutes. After the initial swarm, though, it wasn't long before it was just the three of them: Takagi, Conan, and the sedated Mitsuhiko.

Takagi saw the circles under the boy's eyes, and realized that Conan had not been sleeping.

"He's not the only one you know who's sick, is he?" he asked, keeping his voice soft. The flick of clouded blue eyes in his direction was the only acknowledgement he received. "What else does Sleeping Kogoro know?"

Conan's face froze for a moment, his jaw clenching along with his fists, and under the mask Takagi realized the shrunken detective knew a lot more.

"Not much else," the boy churned out slowly. This was more than his groupies getting sick, something was making this much more personal.

"Conan-kun, I'm just following orders," he said in deep tones, offering a hint of himself, "Been on the force only 1-2 months, I've been told by Commissioner that if you or his kids made a suggestion, we should follow it. So? You have a suggestion?"

"His parents need to be called," Conan said, energy having been sucked out of his voice. "Ran, too."

Takagi couldn't let that slip catch him. "'Ran'?"

That seemed to bring the Conan back to pace. "Oh, I mean Ran-nee-chan," he fixed, a patchy little-boy voice coloring his tones. "I lived in America for a while, so sometimes I forget."

"Hello, Mouri Detective Agency."

"Hello, I'm looking for Mouri Ran."

The girl at the other end audibly started. "Ah, where's Conan-kun? Is he alright?"

"Er, yes, he is, but his friend is not, or rather, we're unsure if he is."

"Just say what you mean!" Ran cried out, making Takagi pull the phone away from his ear. Conan looked on and winced, turning away in shame. "I went to meet them to go visit his friends at the hospital but he never showed and I'm so worried!"

"Calm down, Mouri-kun," Takagi said in placating tones. "We're at the hospital now, so you can come and see him. His friend..." the officer paused, turning around looking for the freckled boy's name even though he already knew it.

"Mitsuhiko-kun," Conan offered in exhausted tones. He was still pacing the ER ward.

"... His friend Mitsuhiko-kun cut himself on some plastic, and the boy, Conan-kun, was pretty upset. I brought them to the hospital to make sure it was nothing serious." "But he's okay?" she demanded.

"Yeah, if you count pacing the room okay."

"Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried!" And there was the hitch of breath that signified tears. Good god, Takagi was squirming in his shoes! "I'll be right there!" she said, and blessedly hung up. Safe! Takagi let out a sigh of relief he didn't need to fake, and turned back to the kid, only to see the diminutive detective to be long gone.

"Fine, then," Takagi said in even tones. "Stick with me kid, you might learn something." He went back to the ward with Mitsuhiko and looked at the nurse. "I hate to impose," he said nurse flushed involuntarily batted her eyelashes. Score! "But since we're investigating this poisoning case would it be possible to forward the test results to me? Without patient names, of course, to protect their privacy."

"Oh, I don't know, I'll see what I can do," the nurse said demurely, still batting her lashes. She finished running her checks and disappeared with a backward glance at the handsome young officer.

Having said that, it was over an hour before a doctor came in.

When the doctor finally did show, he offered many placating phrases and expressions of sympathy, but absolutely no hint of giving information. Both them were glaring when he left, but that was as far as either of them got before another teen, this time a girl, appeared.

"Conan-kun!"

Conan's face betrayed longing and regret and a dozen other emotions and didn't even squawk when Ran picked him up to hug him. The sense of distance and anticipation and hopelessness was too personal .With her here, Conan was set for a while, and so takagi silently disappeared into the background, and then from the hospital.

The embrace was so sudden, so warm, and so Ran that Shinichi almost gave in completely. Almost. The boy turned a deep breath and started to squirm, a child's sign that enough was enough. He very nearly pulled her back, but well-worn reminders kept him from relying on her too much. He had to stay hidden, and to do that he had to stay alone.

"Conan-kun," Ran said, kneeling down to his level. "What happened? Do we know if Mitsuhiko-kun is hurt badly?"

It took a moment for Shinichi to parse what she had said, parts of his brain were working overtime while others were struggling to keep up with things. "Uh..." he started intelligently. "He's been poisoned; he's sick like the others." Even in his own ears his voice sounded hollow, and he winced as he saw the look of horror appear on Ran's face.

"What?! Are they sure?"

If they're not, they will be... "... Yeah."

"Oh, Conan-kun!" Ran drew him to her again, but he ducked out from under it, unable to stand the idea of being so near her and so far at the same time.

"I'm... I'm tired," he said; and it was true.

Ran offered a look so filled with sympathy, so filled with compassion, so filled with love (but not the kind of love he wanted to see) that Shinichi turned away, stuffing his hands in his pockets and desperate to not think about what he was turning his back on. Mute, he left the sedated Mitsuhiko and trudged out to the main thoroughfare of the ER. The parents had arrived, and Shinichi took a deep breath and walked up to them. The father recognized him and looked down.

"... I'm sorry," Shinichi, no, Conan said simply. He stepped around them and left the ER, leaving Ran hurrying to catch up. Finding an elevator, Conan reached up to push the button, listening to the gears and hydraulics lifting or dropping the elevator to their current floor. He heard the ping and stepped in before the door even opened halfway, Ran right behind him. He reached up to press the appropriate floor key, but realized he was too short to do so. Thoughts darkening, Ran interceded and pressing the floor button.

"Conan-kun," she said softly, kneeling down to his level. God, how he hated that she had to do that. "Conan-kun, this isn't your fault; you don't have to put so much on yourself, okay? There's no need for you to apologize."

Shinichi started to say, "But I didn't-" but caught himself and struggled to stay as Conan. But I didn't figure it out in time, and now he's sick because of me.

Stroking his hair, Ran smiled. "What am I going to do with you?" she said gently.

You can call me Stupid Shinichi before kissing me senseless to make me feel better. But even that thought was trudged back down where it had come from, Shinichi fighting the blush that that particular thought had generated. Scowling, the elevator pinged and opened, giving the faux grade-schooler an excuse to get out of Ran's wonderful proximity. A dim corner of his mind wondered what Ran would say if she realized the kind of thoughts "Conan-kun" had about his "nee-chan."

Not thinking about that. Takagi. Think about Takagi. Yes, that sounded much more productive.

This wasn't a challenge; it was likely a true mistake. No one knew (outside of Hattori, at least) that Conan kept those kinds of lists.

His last kid was sick...

Shinichi shook his head.

Navigating the halls and looking for the room number, Conan finally entered Ayumi's room. It was late afternoon, now, and there weren't many visiting hours left. The boy paused, looking up over the height of the bed to see that the female member of the Detective Boys was sleeping, chest moving up and down in slow rhythm. Her color was much better than when she had checked into the ICU, and aside from one IV in her elbow, one would never have thought that she was sick.

The girl stirred, and one bleary but decidedly clear eye opened. "Conan-kun?" she asked sleepily.

Said boy hopped up onto the bed and took her hand. "Ah, I'm here," he said evenly.

"Why'm I 'n the hosp't'l?"

His eyes widened when the question sunk in.

"You were very sick, Ayumi-chan," Ran said, bending over Conan's head, and the boy startled at her presence, having forgotten she was there.

"Ayumi-chan, you don't remember anything?" Conan asked in a low, Shinichi-like voice.

"I caught a cold," she slurred, eyes closing again. "'n I wen' to sleep..."

Her breathing evened out again, and Conan's synapses were firing back and forth again. Ran was reaching over to do something comforting, but he spun away and marched purposefully out the room, hooking a left and a right before he could find the next room he wanted to visit.

Genta was wide awake, apparently, holding a Nintendo DS and scribbling on it wildly. "C'mon, Link, come on! No, not that way! Stupid boomerang."

"Genta-kun," Conan started, and the giant boy whipped around.

"Ah! Conan-kun! Tell me you brought snacks! The food here's way too healthy!"

"... Ah..." Rummaging in his pockets, he pulled out a few pieces of hard candy bites, only to have them snatched out of his hand by a disapproving Ran.

"Hey, no fair! You already have Conan-kun, can't I get the sweets?"

Ran could only offer an indignant "Hmph!" while Conan blushed furiously. Shaking his head from those particular thoughts, he coughed. "Genta-kun, listen to me, this is important: What's the last thing you remember before waking up in the hospital?"

The large boy frowned, crossing his arms and tilting his head in a somewhat stereotypical gesture of thought. "Mm, I was playing Zelda on my DS, I think."

"Why?"

Genta snorted. "I was home sick, what'd'ya think?"

"You don't remember anything after that?"

"Nah, not really. Why? 'S it important?"

They don't remember... None of them remember the delirium... It made for interesting food for thought. Presuming that the Organization was testing the drug, a logical supposition given that they were only poisoning children, then that would imply that they would be tracking the symptoms the same way he and Haibara were; similarly, they would be drawing conclusions and refining the drug...

Shit, they were using the kids as guinea pigs, just watching them suffer and taking notes while they made a bigger, better drug to make people suffer! And old, familiar panic worked its way up his stomach, and he couldn't contain a violent gasp of a reaction when something touched his shoulder. Blinking rapidly, he realized he was staring at an equally startled Ran who had been reaching out to him and a confused Genta.

"Y'okay, Conan-kun? Are you getting sick, too?"

Ran's expression became as panicked as his, and Conan had to think quickly.

"No, no," he placated, allowing himself a large yawn. "I'm just tired, I think. I should have visited earlier. Ran-nee-chan, can we go home?"

"Y-yes, yes we can, Conan-kun." Ran offered her hand, and Conan mutely took it, nodding goodbye to Genta before letting himself be led. His mind was spinning in chaotic thoughts of poison and research and experimentations and Black and Alcohol and shadowy figures and guns and murder and mayhem and evil and shrinking and pain and loneliness and hiding and...

Not thinking about that; decidedly NOT thinking about that! NOT thinking about Mitsuhiko-kun sedated in a hospital bed, NOT thinking about Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun being there too, NOT thinking about the Black Organization and its role behind putting them all in the hospital, NOT thinking about how this could very well be my fault if they've found me and are punishing me for being alive, NOT thinking about how they're trying to break me before they kidnap me and torture me for information before killing me, Ran, and everyone else even remotely associated with me. No, NOT thinking about any of this, not thinking about anything at all, not...

Conan's eyes finally slipped closed, and shear exhaustion overtook him. He hadn't even been aware that he had been led all the way to the taxi and was riding in one.

Ran watched his fall into a fitful sleep, and ran her fingers through his hair, wishing she could do more.

It was well after midnight. Two shadowy figures met in an abandoned office with only the moonlight to offer any differentiation between shadows. They briefly shook hands and eased into well-cushioned office chairs.

"Mr. dealer, it's been a while," said the figure who stayed in the darkness.

A shadowy figure swiveled in the moonlight, taking off a black fedora and rubbing a black-gloved hand over a bald and aged face.

"I've been checking in on my distributor up in Hokkaido. It's colder up there and there've been problems in testing since long sleeves and sweaters are hampering the method you've been using here and in other experimental populations."

The figure in darkness offered a glint of teeth. "Granted. I've not run into such issues."

Dealer leaned further back into his chair, the moonlight giving a soft reflection off his sunglasses. "There have been other issues in your distribution."

"Oh?"

"The media. It's known all over Japan about this 'mysterious illness' that's infecting Beika's children. I told you to lengthen out your choosing of test subjects."

A barely seen shrug of shoulders. "Given my position, if things work out well, I'll actually be able to publish about the affects of this. Not for a few years, granted, nor will I leak anything out about you or your organization."

"You won't," Dealer agreed with a stout nod. "Because you won't publish anything."

The figure in the darkness said nothing, but his pause had a questioning note to it before the figure finally said, "Ah, but my research wouldn't be on the actual drug. You know my chosen field; that's why you had me chose your experimental sample here in Beika."

"Precisely. You can be removed from that position very easily."

A wince in shadows.

"Back off. With media attention, there is an investigation. We don't want anyone to know that this is a drug, nor do we want anyone figuring out how to combat the compound. This experiment can't be compromised by outside influences." Dealer gave a cold smile and scratched his bald head once more. "Now that we understand one another, what are some of the results of this drug?"

The shadowed figure gave a small shudder. "All hallucinations fall along the same line. A dark figure is trying to take something in their lives and they react violently as a result. Children are such selfish beings; it's hardly a surprise that their hallucinations are spin-offs of self-aggrandizing fantasies where they take their pretend play to the ultimate level. Does this hold true for the other age groups?"

"That's not for you to know. Your job is the distribution and collection of data here in Beika."

A slight nod. "There have been a few physical side-effects not foreseen. Cold- or flu-like symptoms. And dry skin, to the point of flaking."

Dealer nodded. "Anything else?"

The figure in darkness hesitated. "There is a boy who is associated with that Sleeping Detective. Apparently I've put a few of his friends into the hospital with this."

The shades lowered and a cold glare of black eyes froze the room. "Is that detective investigating?"

"No. I spoke with him. He complains that there's no client in it to pay him. But that boy might push with so many of his friends hospitalized."

"This is why you should have spaced things out. Now you have to take care of it."

The shadowy figure leaned forward. "How?"

"Your tracks are sufficiently covered; no one will trace it back to you. So drug the boy, make that detective worry over him, then stop all distributions. You have no evidence that links you, so you leave it alone. For months. Go about life normally. Then go back to the experiment slowly. And listen when I tell you slowly."

"An interesting method. With the detective occupied with ensuring his charge is healthy, he won't have time to investigate. And when he does, there will be nothing for him to follow. Maybe I can do a study on him..."

"No, you idiot." Dealer stood to his full height, eyes still glaring ice. The build of the man in the black hat and overcoat was muscular, though age was written clearly on his face. "You leave them alone in order to stay hidden. If you insert yourself, a detective takes notice. If you're going to be like that, it would be easier to just wipe out the whole family: the detective, the boy, whoever else is there."

"Oh come now," the shadowed figure replied. "They're far too interesting to not study. I'll do as you say. The detective will be distracted."

Dealer put on his fedora and lifted his shades once more. "One day, your fascination of case studies will leave you high and dry. You're just a distributor. An easy expenditure that can be replaced."

A sigh. "When will I see you next?"

"I'll let you know. For now, I have a plane to catch to Osaka."

After almost three weeks of fretting and worrying, there was one high school student who was actually excited that it was Tuesday. Tuesday. Not even the middle of the week, when the usual grind of school started wearing one down as the blessed weekend lay so far out of reach. A Tuesday was a day for rejoicing.

Why?

Because it meant that one dark-skinned detective was able to take his childhood friend home from the hospital.

Heiji had skipped school for this. (Though, really, his teachers knew and understood.) Kazuha's parents were at home making a surprise party ready, something small so as not to wear her out, but before Heiji had left to go get his aikido-master, he had seen Kazuha's mother putting a cake in the oven. The Osakan detective's parents were also over, helping to prepare and discuss how much better Kazuha had been doing.

It had started almost three weeks previously. Heiji and Kazuha were arguing on their way home, as was normal, calling one another "Ahou!" when Heiji remarked that she should probably stay home since it looked like she was starting to get sick. Kazuha, naturally, denied it, saying she was just fine. It wasn't her fault that her skin was drying out so quickly and that her preparation for an upcoming aikido match was leaving her so tired.

But that was when things had gotten scary. In mid-sentence, Kazuha had stopped, staring at Heiji but no longer seeing him. Whatever she had said following that, Heiji didn't remember, because Kazuha had suddenly come at him, in full aikido-form, to try and take him down. It was only through the dark-skinned detective's quick reflexes that he didn't get pounded into the ground and the only way he had stopped her was when she had sneezed. It had provided enough of an opening for Heiji to break her stance and tackle her to the sidewalk. She had struggled weakly after that and had only recognized Heiji after he had called her an "Ahou!" with a voice cracking in fear.

During her hospitalization, Heiji had visited her every day. Doing his homework in her room, ignoring the whole family-only policy in ICU, and avoiding any calls for help from the police in lieu of just being by her side. She had gone through four more hallucinations during her stay, but after a week and a half, she improved enough to be moved to a regular room. She had returned to herself after that and hadn't really remembered anything of her hallucinations or even the days prior to her hospitalization.

But none of that mattered to Heiji as he smiled as brightly as the clear autumn sun. She was coming home. That made all the difference in the world. After three weeks of hell, nothing could be better than this.

He parked his motorcycle in the parking garage and made his way inside to collect his precious charge.

"They sent 'n ahou like you t' take me home? I thought m 'dad had more sense 'an that."

Heiji let Kazuha's grumbling wash over him as he handed her a small bouquet. She smiled softly, still looking a tad pale.

"Thanks, Heiji."

The detective tried not to blush.

"Are m' parents okay? They didn't catch this thin', did they?"

"Naw, they're fine. Ahou, whaddya think they're doin'? They grabbed my folks 'n' they're gettin' ready for yer grand return."

Kazuha gave a small laugh. "Then we'd better not disappoint. C'mon."

A nurse arrived to wheel Kazuha out of the hospital and to Heiji's bike. Upon seeing the mode of transportation, however, the nurse frowned. Kazuha, however, was thrilled.

"Oh, Heiji! How'd ya know I wanted t' go home on yer bike?"

"You, stuck in there," he jerked his thumb back to the building they'd just left, "fer almost three weeks? Didja think I'm stupid?"

Kazuha said nothing, smiling and giggling like a little girl as she grabbed the offered helmet. "Aw!" she pouted briefly, thwacking his arm, "ya went 'n' got a side-car? I'm not gonna break y'know!"

"Don't blame me!" Heiji gave a mild growl. "Yer folks insisted if I was gonna take you home."

The aikido-master offered a grumbled opinion what her parents could do with the side-car, but she took the helmet and eased into it. Once seated, she gave out a small sigh.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little... winded." Kazuha scowled down at herself. "It's gonna take forever ta get myself back inta shape. 'n' I missed my match."

Heiji swung a leg over the bike and leaned down, putting an arm around her thin shoulders.

"Hey, no bein' mad on acounta that. Yer still here so no cryin' over spilled milk."

"Okay," she mumbled, leaning into his arms briefly. "Take me home?"

"You betcha."

Heiji rather deliberately took the long way home, taking side streets and areas with more stop-and-go traffic. It gave him a chance to lean over and see how his passenger was doing, plus it was a little easier on her rather than going at highway speeds. Of course, when Kazuha asked why, he told her that it gave their parents more time to prepare.

It was at one stoplight that a newspaper caught Heiji's eye.

EPIDEMIC STILL GRIPS BEIKA CHILDREN

Children's Hallucinations Drive Parents Mad - Police Withholding Evidence

The Osakan detective narrowed his eyes. Since it had hit the national news the previous Wednesday, Heiji had been worried. There were only one person in Beika who could attract that kind of trouble, but Heiji had had his own hands full when, not ten minutes after he saw that broadcast, Kazuha had fallen into another hallucination that demanded his full attention.

The light turned green and Heiji continued his way home. Of course, the similarities between what the news was leaking out and what had happened to Kazuha hadn't escaped him. Hallucinations, dry skin, symptoms of a cold, dilated eyes, etc. Whatever the children of Beika were suffering from, Kazuha had contracted it as well. But while the news spoke of attempts to find similarities between the disease's victims, Heiji had done some legwork of his own. He had never left the hospital, but upon inquiring, it turned out that almost once a month, a high schooler would come in with hallucinations and flaking skin, much like Kazuha had. The doctors and nurses had all thought that it was just a case of a really bad flu in each instance, the same with Kazuha.

But it was all too suspicious for Heiji. If whatever was happening in Beika had already happened (at a much slower pace) in Osaka, then the chances of it being a disease or a flu-gone-bad were getting small, especially since no other cases seemed to occur anywhere between Tokyo and Osaka. No, this had the smell of planned and deliberate and Heiji knew of only one organization that had the resources to do something like that.

He needed to talk to Kudo. Compare notes and see if they were both coming to the same conclusions. But to do that, Heiji needed to do some more extensive legwork, validate a few things on his own.

At another stoplight, Kazuha leaned against him.

And he wouldn't do any investigating until he was sure that Kazuha was back on her feet. He'd poke around things that weekend and visit Kudo the following week. Heiji placed a hand on Kazuha's shoulder. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

Ran blinked when she brought in the mail. She had just come home after dropping Conan off at Genta's apartment, since the large boy was scheduled to come home that day and the Kojiyamas had been kind enough to let Conan come over once he promised to not tire out Genta. They would give Ran a call when Conan was sent on his way home. But what made her pause as she put her backpack down was a package of some sort in the mail, addressed to Conan. The return address was horribly smeared, evidence that it had spent some time out in the rain before she picked it up; Conan's name itself was difficult to make out.

She wandered into the office to finish shorting through the mail. Bills and possible payments were placed on her father's desk while junk was filed appropriately in the trash bin. There were some town notices, a change in garbage-pick-up policy and other odd bits that always seemed to accumulate in a mailbox. Ran noticed the monthly check from Conan's mother for his wellbeing. In fact, it seemed to have the same postmark as the package for the small boy.

Ran blinked. It was one of the aspects about Conan that placed doubt in her suspicions about his being Shinichi. When Conan's mother had arrived, much to Ran's surprise, Conan had reacted very strangely. After all, one does not shout "Who the hell are you?!" to one's mother after not seeing her in so long. Upon reflection, it had initially lent credence to her theory, crack-pot as it was. But after that initial reaction, Conan acted like a normal little boy, if reluctant to leave his new friends. Conan's mother had dropped by once or twice since then, and Conan had always been happy to see her, if sometimes a little suspicious of alternate motives.

If Shinichi was really hiding as Conan, then who would willingly play his mother? And send regular checks for his upbringing? Ran doubted that Shinichi's parents knew if he was shrunken, given that they were never around, and if Shinichi really was stuck in the small form of Conan, there was no way he could send checks for his well-being. So Conan must be Conan and Shinichi must be Shinichi... Right?

Shaking off her suspicions Ran picked up the package. Curiosity was burning inside of her. Conan wouldn't mind if she opened his mail, would he? No, surely not. A child wouldn't understand it as invasion of privacy since children didn't really get mail any more, so much as email. And if it really was Shinichi... Well, he could stuff it. It was addressed to Conan, not Shinichi and she was curious.

She ripped open the top and tilted, letting the contents spill onto her father's desk. A card came out and Ran grabbed that first. It was a simple index card that read, "I knew you'd love this! Love, Mama," in a plain, typed font.

When she saw the actual gift, Ran agreed. Conan would love this, be he Conan or Shinichi. Encased in thick plastic was a pair of action figures. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. With a smile tugging at her lips, Ran already had a plan formulating on how to best present them to her little charge. She reached into her father's drawers to pull out a pair of scissors and open the plastic.

Conan, meanwhile, was smiling as Genta beat him (yet again) at the video game they had been playing since he'd arrived. Putting down the controller, the detective turned to the only one of his children that was currently out of the hospital.

"Genta-kun. We've been playing all afternoon. How are you?"

The large boy gave an embarrassed smile before looking back and forth to ensure that parents weren't in hearing distance.

Leaning forward, Genta whispered, "Bored outta my mind. You got any good mysteries?"

Conan's jaw dropped.

Then, with a small chuckle, he shook his head. "Sorry, Genta-kun. Nothing pressing at the moment. Investigating alone is no fun and it wouldn't be the same without Ayumi-chan or Mitsuhiko-kun or Haibara."

"Awwww, damn that sucks."

"Genta-kun?" called a sweet voice from the living room. "Polite language, please!"

Genta's eyes bugged out as he automatically cringed way from his mother's voice. "How's she do that! I swear I was quiet! What the he-heck!"

To this, at least, Conan had a very sage answer. "She's a mother. She's supposed to be able to hear like that." He remembered when his own mother threatened to wash his mouth out with soap when he started to swear. Thankfully, she had never carried out her threat, but for a young Shinichi, he watched his p's and q's as it were. Mothers, by their very nature, could be scary.

Genta gave a small pout before turning back to what they were talking about. "Well Ayumi-chan'll be out of the hospital t'morrow. Haibara will be back Friday. We won't be investigating alone."

Conan looked down to his hands. "But what about Mitsuhiko-kun?"

Genta looked down as well. "Well, shit, Conan-kun. Do we know how long he'll be stuck there?"

"Based on what you and Ayumi-chan went through, we're looking at three weeks. Unless the doctors can isolate what's going on and combat it better in its initial phases." The brick in Conan's stomach squirmed. "We got him in earlier than you and Ayumi-chan, so maybe he won't get as sick, but..."

The room fell silent, save for the Yaiba tune of the video game recycling over the speakers.

"Ne, Conan-kun?"

"Nn?"

"We really scared you, didn't we?"

Shinichi looked up, eyes wide.

"I mean, Mom and Dad told me a little of what happened. You and Mitsuhiko-kun hadda go with Ayumi-chan to the hospital. That musta been... weird. I remember when you hadda go to the hospital." Genta shuddered. "Carrying you through those caves. Hoping you'd make it after you passed out. It was really serious back then. But we knew you'd be okay 'cause you woke up before we got you to the ambulance. But Ayumi-chan didn't, did she? And when you got to the hospital, I wasn't awake and didn't wake up. Hell, I don't even remember that day before I hadda go to the hospital. And now Mitsuhiko-kun's asleep and not waking up. I'm fine. I don't remember what happened, but I'm fine. So you don't need to ask about me, Conan-kun. I'm fine. I'll be okay.

"What about you, Conan-kun?"

And Shinichi felt something well up inside of him. His children were worried about him. Mitsuhiko stuck by his side like glue while investigating, providing whatever aide he could. Now Genta was checking in on his well being with all the worry and stress.

Shinichi was oddly humbled by how much they cared for him. He lied to them like he lied to Ran and he didn't deserve such devoted faith. They were his children in an odd not-biological-but-still-very-much-his way. He played with them every day, taught them every day, raised them every day. And as annoying as they were, as much as he tried to protect them from the darker aspects of investigatory work, they still followed right along and looked to him for guidance.

So, with a watery smile, he replied, "I'm fine, too."

"You sure, Conan-kun?"

"I'm sure." Shinichi's smile grew. "So, Ayumi-chan's coming home tomorrow right? What are we going to do?"

Genta's reply was "THROW A PARTY!" like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Genta-kun," his mother called, "don't tire yourself out? Take it easy, okay?"

The large boy whirled around in his futon. "But Mom!" he lamented. "Ayumi-chan should get something!"

The Kojima matron appeared at the door, smiling widely. "Of course. But leave the preparations to your father and I. We and the Yoshidas have been talking. We'll be taking you over tomorrow afternoon since the two of you couldn't see each other much while you were in the hospital." She looked to her small guest. "Don't worry, Conan-kun. I left a message with Ran-kun. You're invited as well as long as you don't tire them out."

Shinichi smiled. "I won't," he said. "And I won't let them tire each other out, either."

"Good boy. Now, Genta-kun? Are you hungry yet?"

"You betcha!"

And with a deep breath, Shinichi fell back and Conan came back to the foreground.

The best place to hide a twig is in a forest.

Haibara Ai was not what one would call a staunch subscriber to that philosophy, simply because the idea of being anything other than what she was irked her on a level she didn't bother to analyze, but at the same time (to borrow another anecdote) beggars can't be choosers, and when it came to hiding, Haibara would subscribe to anything. Within reason.

Watching Kudo act the little boy, putting on high-pitched chirpy tones and deliberately say things that were childishly obtuse, always made a nerve twitch deep in Haibara's brain. She never felt the need to be anything other than herself;, pint-sized or otherwise. Staying silent required no acting, and therefore she never deemed it necessary to lower herself to pretending to be something other than what she was. But this did not mean she did not follow the logic, just disagreed with it when applied to her.

It was always very frustrating when an adult would see her walking around and bend down to ask if she was lost or if she needed help. She couldn't grudge Kudo the convenience of having Ran or Mouri-san around to act as a guardian, but Haibara herself always did things her own way. It was part of what had gotten her into so much trouble to begin with.

Frowning away from that thought, the tiny scientist looked up at Agasa as he led them through the throng of people - the forest she was hiding in - from one workshop to another. Her hands were filled with brochures and advertisements, the price of navigating conventions like this, as well as some interesting books she'd found and Agasa had paid for.

One booth salesman had blinked when he's seen the old man give Haibara the book without comment, asking, "You're making your granddaughter carry your things?"

Agasa has simply smiled and said, "If I didn't, she'd make me start exercising."

And that was why she liked him.

Agasa, too, didn't pretend to be anything other than what he was, and he didn't try to make excuses unless necessary. He let people think what they wanted, and shrugged off people like the booth salesman. The old man made the perfect "guardian" for her.

"Hakase," she said in soft tones, garnering his attention, "You're going the wrong way. The map indicates that the toxin-antitoxin presentation is going to be this way."

"Oh? As you say, Ai-kun," the jovial man responded, content to turn around and follow the woman-turned-girl.

Truth be told, Haibara had never been to a science convention before. Given her prior line of work, there had been no opportunity for her to go to one, and the idea of sharing _her_ findings made her stomach turn (not that she _ever_ would show it, of course). The novelty did not escape her, and she intended to enjoy it thoroughly.

It kept her mind off other things. The Black Organization, for instance. Hiding, for another instance.

Shaking her head again, she ducked under the elbow of a particularly aggressive booth salesman, rolling her eyes when the man stopped poor Agasa before backtracking to grab at his sleeve. "We're going to be late, hakase," she said simply, and continued to push forward.

Finally leaving the booth area, the crowd started to thin out, and she let go of the old man's hand. Checking her map of the complex, she made a left turn and then a right, entering a double wide hallway lined with doors, checking their numbers before finally stopping at the one that was highlighted on her brochure and calmly walking in.

"Little girl, are you lost?"

"No, no, she's with me," Agasa said as Haibara walked down the halls to the front row. "She loves science like I do, and she begged to come. I have to go now before I lose her."

Haibara, well ahead of him, had found a chair and had reserved it by putting her papers there. She waited only long enough for Agasa to arrive before explaining, "I'll see if I can find them," before letting herself disappear back into the crowding hall. Simply put: she was looking for doctors. Not just any doctors, but specifically for any signs of doctors that were from Beika General, where all the poisoned children were going. This was a convention that had been on the docket for months, as had this particular lecture. If anyone from Beika General had signed up for this convention, they would have crashed this presentation, and that was what Haibara was hoping for.

Just listening to the bits of conversation was stimulating. Haibara had obviously not been in the field for a long time, and listening to the animated conversations about chemistry and biology and bacteriophage and electron microscopes brought back her love of her field. It took much effort to _not_ enter the conversations, not offer her own observations, not ask questions, let _alone_ walk away when she decided the people she was listening to weren't the people she was looking for. She sighed internally and refocused on her goals.

Two men and a woman caught her eye, and she wandered over to them. The woman looked decidedly stressed, and one of the men was on the phone, asking for updates on, "the kids." The third was flipping through a brochure that Haibara had a copy of, and the minimized blonde tried to move in closer.

The man on the phone hung up his phone with a flourish. "The latest kid just had another hallucination," he said with a growl. "I'd _love_ to know how the cops figured out this was propane alkaloids. They sure as hell never came to the hospital over this, even when whoever that _stupid_ idiot was leaked this to the news."

"I heard that detective, Sleeping Mouri I think, is looking into it," the woman said, ringing her hands. "I've read about some of his cases, if he can put things together that quickly, then that might explain it."

"I doubt it," the one with the brochure said, "but I won't bite the hand that feeds, either. Now we know that there's a foreign agent in the kids, and now we know how it entered their bloodstream."

"Anyway," the woman said, "Let's sit down and see if we can learn anything from this. Is there a question and answer segment?"

"No, but you can bet people will be asking questions after the lecture. We just have to make sure we're first in line."

Satisfied, Haibara followed them a little bit more, invisible because of her height, before memorizing where they sat and going back to her own seat. "I've found what we're looking for," she whispered as the light started to dim. "Do you still have my notes?"

"Yes, yes, Ai-kun," Agasa replied, patting his breast pocket. "I'm not nearly as geriatric as you make me out to be."

"You'll be post-mortem if you keep neglecting your health," Haibara softly tossed back. Agasa looked appropriately affronted.

The lecture itself was nothing Haibara didn't already know. Being a poison researcher herself, she had known the material inside and out, though privately she did find the different perspective the presenter used refreshingly unique and thought provoking in some ways. It was two hours later when the presentation finally concluded, and Haibara looked at Agasa. He gave her the notes she'd brought with them, and raised a grey eyebrow. "Are you certain you want to do it this way? Email can be much more anonymous."

Haibara's gaze didn't change, but she did take the time to reply as she folded up her notes and suggestions. "My area of expertise is in biochemistry and toxins, hakase. My knowledge of computers before 'this,'," she gestured to herself vaguely, "all began was limited, and while the internet can do much for teaching me how to hide myself online, and how to look at networking traffic, I'm not nearly competent enough to send an email that can't be traced back to me. No, I'll do it this way."

Done folding her papers into origami football-triangles, she climbed down from her seat and marched back into the crowd, eyeing the three hospital doctors she's found earlier. Palming the documents in her hand, he made the effort to put a smile on her face, and ran up to the woman doctor, enveloping her in a hug from behind, hands clumsily groping for the taller woman's pockets.

It startled the adults, and it gave Haibara just enough time to drop her precious cargo where it was supposed to go before the doctor with the phone put a hand on her shoulder.

"Little girl, what are you doing?"

"She needed a hug," Haibara said. She refused to raise her voice, but she did try to sound perky. "Ojii-san says sad people always need hugs."

"Oh, that's nice of you, sweetie," the female doctor said, crouching down to her level. "Where's your Ojii-san now?"

"He's with hakase," she responded, keeping her smile on. The corners of her mouth were starting to hurt;, she wasn't used to smiling often or this widely. "They're over there," she gestured vaguely in a random direction. "If I'm gone to long they'll be worried." Swallowing her pride, Haibara hugged the woman again before darting off where she'd pointed, looping through the chairs and disappearing from sight before leaving the hall and rejoining Agasa outside by the booths.

"So? How'd it go?"

"As well as can be expected," Haibara said without ceremony. "They have equipment we do not. With my notes and chemical breakdown, they should be able to use their resources to synthesize and anti-toxin. Hopefully it will do something to stop _Them_."

Agasa offered a look of sympathy at the last sentence, but Haibara ignored it in favor of wandering back into the booths. She didn't need sympathy; her predicament was her own fault, as was the death of her sister, as was all the deaths she had helped precipitate. The least she could do was to stop the Organization in some small way.

Even if she did risk her life just now in the process. She had every intention of being the silent, well-behaved, invisible little girl now that she's finished this particular little stunt.

"Let's get something to eat, Ai-kun," Agasa offered.

She looked at her convenient guardian. "So long as you have nothing with salt, protein, saturated fat or caffeine."

Agasa admitted defeat.

It was getting chilly outside, or at least it seemed that way to Ran as she hugged her coat a little closer to herself. Conan trotted beside her, his own coat open to the cold; children seemed immune to temperatures, Ran observed. Shrugging off a shiver, she held in a cough. She'd caught a cold yesterday, and with poor Conan's friends in and out of the hospital, the last thing she wanted to do was worry her small charge. The boy was kicking a soccer ball around on the walk to school.

Not along the street, mind you; no, he was juggling it with his knees and shins as he walked, the black and white ball never touching the ground as it bounced around and behind him, occasionally butting his head before dipping behind for to the sole of his sneaker before arcing to the front for to the inside of his foot and then his knee and then back behind him again. The boy was deep in thought, the movements subconscious and almost too smooth for the motor control of a grade-schooler.

The boy hadn't been sleeping well. Even her father had seen the dark circles under his eyes and commented that he stop playing video games until all hours; but Ran knew better. She was a light sleeper; she always knew when he was gaming. No, the boy was up pacing the house, worrying over everything that had been happening in the last two weeks.

Ran watched as a particularly dark thought flitted across the boy's face - a look that was becoming frightfully common since Mitsuhiko illness (she still couldn't believe it was poisoning!) the past Friday. The dark face accompanied a vicious kick, and Ran watched as the soccer ball arched up into the air high above the din of the streets before bouncing off the brickwork of a building and across the street.

Conan stared after the soccer ball before muttering a curse that Ran pretended she didn't hear. Really, she couldn't blame him. She, too, was worried out of her mind; so many children were sick - the police were all over the hospital now, they couldn't see Mitsuhiko because of it, and no one was really explaining how they had figured out that it was poisoning. Her father was no help whatsoever, either; he was so absorbed with his tailing case he steadfastly wanted nothing to do with it. Really, he was so frustrating at times!

The pair crossed the street without a word once the light blinked, and meandered to where the soccer ball had last been seen. It had landed, apparently, in a small connector alley, after having knocked over a garbage can. Ran had missed it entirely, but Conan as ever didn't miss a detail, and he rolled the soccer ball out from the mess, grimacing at the state of the sports ball, before wordlessly going back to kicking it around his head.

"Ne, Conan-kun," Ran offered, "Do you want some ice cream? Or maybe a baked sweet potato, it is the season. What about some-"

"I'm not hungry, thanks," he replied distantly. Under his breath, he was muttering bits of phrases. "How they distribute it... ways of monitoring... time delay, too... how do I catch them..."

That made Ran stop. "Conan-kun, you're not thinking of investigating this case, are you?" she demanded.

The boy stopped mid kick, the soccer ball bouncing off his knee and then on the sidewalk, rolling back where it had come from. He blinked, wide eyed, as he mentally replayed what he had just been thinking about.

"Uwah, no! That's not... Ran-nee-chan..."

"Conan-kun, I don't believe it!" she shouted, putting her fists on her hips. "I know you love mysteries but this is too dangerous! It's bad enough Shinichi put all those thoughts in your head and made you stay up late," (or Shinichi had stayed up late taking his notes and with a relaxed guard called her by name the next morning because he was _Conan_ ) "and I know that you're upset, but this isn't some case you can help Dad out with; people are being _poisoned_! If you go poking your nose around where it doesn't belong you might get-"

"You think I don't know that?" Conan snapped, dropping pretense. It was Shinichi's eyes that were staring at her, and Conan suddenly seemed much taller. "You think I don't know who's in the hospital right now?"

Ran almost started to say "Shinichi..." but caught herself, shaking her head and cursing her cold for making her think that. "Conan-kun," she said instead, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder. He tried to shrug it off, but she held firm. "Conan-kun, I'm sorry. I know you're worried about Mitsuhiko-kun. And Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan, even though they're out of the hospital. But I said this before; it's not your fault. You can't hold yourself responsible for this, okay?"

"Of course I'm responsible!" Conan cut in, his voice raising.

"Conan-kun, you shouldn't-"

" _They're like my kids!_ " he shouted. He kicked the soccer ball again, a quick, jerky motion completely unlike the fluid movement he had been producing earlier. It shot forward, bouncing off a businessman's leg this time before losing steam.

Ran, well, Ran stared. The small boy was unaware of this, seemed unaware of what he had said, as he kept going. "I've been trying to keep them safe, to stay out of the worst of it, but then this... I couldn't... I wasn't fast enough! I didn't figure it out quick enough! _They_ got to me _again_ , and this time without even knowing it!" He gave a frustrated growl, jerking out from Ran's grip and chasing after the soccer ball, lifting his leg behind him to give it another violently solid kick, and chased after the object.

The teen girl slowly stood, her eyes following the jerky actions made by the frustration of... of...

"... Shinichi...?"

She shivered, not entirely because of the cold, and finished the walk to school only because her legs were working on autopilot. Sonoko gasped when she saw how pale her best friend was, demanded to know what had happened, poked and prodded and _pulled_ , but Ran had lost herself in her own thoughts, the cold reducing her awareness of the outside world.

She remembered how Shinichi held chopsticks, like Conan did now; she remembered how Shinichi kicked a soccer ball to think, like Conan did now; how Shinichi disappeared as Conan appeared; how Shinichi solved cases like Conan helped her father; how Conan wrote in Shinichi's shorthand; how Conan looked like Shinichi and vice versa; how Conan was never home when Shinichi called...

" _They're like my kids!_ " a phrase no child would ever say...

She didn't really remember much of the school day.

"... Shinichi..."

"Edogawa Conan, please report to the office. Edogawa Conan, please report to the office."

Conan startled awake when he heard his name, and flushed when he realized he'd been napping in class _again_. Sleep had decided to take a vacation on him, and often his nights were spend with his brain in an odd kind of overdrive, where he was trying to raise the volume on the TV of his brain but couldn't find the remote. There were connections to be made, but his brain wasn't making them and he didn't know where to go. It made him tired, which made it harder for him to focus, which made him more tired. He couldn't even really remember the walk to school this morning, other than mulling over the case and kicking the damn soccer ball. Truth be told, for all he knew he could have confessed all to Ran in his non-sleep-sate (a dream come true and a nightmare all at once) and he wouldn't have been able to say for sure.

"Conan-kun?" the teacher asked, and Conan realized he was starting to doze off _again_.

Shaking his head, he forced himself to get up from his seat. "Yes, sensei," he said in a tired voice, taking his pass and slipping out the door. God, he could use some sleep. Good luck trying to find that fickle mistress, though. Hell, good luck finding coffee to keep him awake.

Padding down to the main office, he was directed to guidance, and when that fact finally clicked in his head, he realized he was sitting down in Saiko-sensei's office on the beanbag chairs.

 _Aw, great!_ Inwardly he growled as he crossed his legs and waited for the school psychologist to get comfortable himself. _Just what I need: Hi, sensei; I'm losing sleep over a mysterious Black Organization that not only shrunk me without knowing it, but put all my kids in the hospital without knowing it - or rather knowing it but not knowing the connection to me; could you tell me how to properly express these feelings of anxiety and stress to my seventeen seventeen-year year-old girlfriend who doesn't know I've been shrunk and thinks I'm off solving a case, which technically I am only it's right under her nose? Yeah, that'll go over real well._

Conan's eyes roved around the room, looking for distraction from his dark thoughts. Parts of the office were still the same from his first childhood: the degrees and certifications still hung from the walls, the "Believe in Yourself!" posters scattering the rest of the walls, the piles of books and folders and binders that were common in any room associated with school. The beanbag chairs Conan was sitting on were new even if the concept wasn't. There was a duffle bag by the psychologist's desk that had the distinct bulges of balls.

"Sensei, do you play sports?" he asked. He absolutely did _not_ want to talk about the case, not when he was this tired, and so he tried for distraction.

"Oh, I wouldn't say I play them," Saiko-sensei said, still shifting his aging weight around to get comfortable. "I help out at the middle school, though. The kids all gave me their lucky balls and I guard them between games, and sometimes I take them to a shrine near my apartment and have them blessed for good luck."

"Then do you know a lot about soccer?" he asked, hoping to keep the distraction up.

"A little, but that's not why we're here, Conan-kun."

Damn. There was just no luck for him today. Not that there ever was any, but Conan was feeling it keenly right now.

"Then why are we here?" he asked, trying to keep his voice innocent and curious.

"I wanted to see how you're feeling," Saiko-sensei replied, his brown eyes still warm, if searching. "You don't look very well;, did you catch a cold?"

"No, not really," he said, shifting in his beanbag chair. Paranoia made his senses alert, but the news hadn't made any comment over the switch from "disease" to "poisoning", and so Conan knew that there was no way the sharp eyed psychologist would make the connection.

"Are you sure?" the older man asked. "You look a little pale, and you clearly haven't been sleeping."

 _Wasn't I just thinking about that...?_ Conan tried to quickly figure away out of this particular line of question. He said, "I'm tired. I'm worried." _Ah, stupid!_

"About your friends, I know," Saiko-sensei said. "It must have been very scary when the police officer took Mitsuhiko-kun to the hospital like that. Did the officer say anything to you?"

Conan stared flatly at the gentle-eyed psychologist, having no patience for the rigmarole but seeing no means to escape it. It was a microcosm of his life, if he thought about it. He shook himself, trying to war off the exhaustion he felt that was causing such dark thoughts. "Not really," he finally replied. "I'm just a kid;, they don't really tell me much."

To this Saiko-sensei had a gleam light up in his brown eyes. "Oh, now really, Conan-kun; you forget I've talked to Mitsuhiko-kun, and Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun. I know that that inspector, Megure-keibu, takes what you Detective Boys say in high regard. You've helped catch everything from murderers to Italian mobsters looking for gold."

 _Thanks kids,_ Conan thought dryly, _I can always count on you to make my life more complicated. ...Idiot, is that any way to think of kids that are in the hospital?_ Conan decided he needed sleep, a lot of it; if this kept up... he wasn't even awake enough to draw up a proper comparison. "Yeah, I guess," he said with indifference, "but that doesn't mean that they let me in on everything." _Sorry, old man, I'm not dropping a word._

Saiko-sensei's thick eyebrows pinched together, a frown decorating his face and adding lines. But he shrugged and gave a warm smile, leaning back in his beanbag. "Well, do you think you could regale me with cases you have solved?"

Conan, however, had had enough; "Can I go now?" he asked in a whiny voice. "I've already missed a lot of class because I was sleeping, now that I'm awake I want to learn something. Then I want to go to go home and get some sleep."

The balding man leaned forward. "As you wish," he said gently. "I don't blame you. Here, let me write you a pass."

It took time for the older man to lift himself out of the beanbag chair, and Conan watched with tired eyes as Saiko-sensei labored to his desk, kicking his duffle bag before sitting at his desk and pulling out a packet of passes, scribbling Conan's name. The boy took it without comment, and had just reached up for the doorknob when,

"You have to talk about it eventually, Conan-kun. Life can be very hard, sometimes, and it's not healthy to keep feelings like yours to yourself. Eventually it will make you break. Far better, then, to talk to someone who knows how to listen. When you're ready, I'll be here."

 _Fat chance I'll tell you anything._ Conan opened the door without comment, but the words stuck with him for the rest of the day.

"Ran..."

Shinichi blinked.

Gruaaaah! Why do little boys need to use the toilet so damn much? I couldn't have had to go this often when I was a kid the first time round!

Rubbing his eyes, the truncated detective slowly got out of his futon and went to utilize certain facilities.

And I was finally getting some sleep, too. Most likely because I slipped some melatonin earlier, but I need more sleep than just four hours. Of course, that's more than what I've averaged for the last week, but I have a large deficit to catch up on. Still, four hours sleep did make his head just the tiniest bit clearer. He'd probably have to take some more melatonin before he went back to bed, but at least then he would hopefully have a full night's rest as a result.

Really; if this kept up, he wouldn't be any good to anyone.

Ah, for the days when all my cases had everything right in front of me and I didn't have to do so much backtracking and going over the same things...

Cynicism and sarcasm aside.

With a large (if stifled) yawn, Shinichi made his way downstairs towards the kitchen where the medicine cabinet was. He'd have to drag a chair over, but he was going to get a full night's sleep, come hell or high water. With a small hop he turned on the lights to the living room and blearily blinked as he crossed to the kitchen. He never quite made it across, however.

"Shinichi..."

Shinichi stopped, something cold and icy creeping down his spine as he slowly turned from the kitchen entrance to see Ran sitting on the couch. What's she doing sitting in the dark at 1:30 in the morning?

"Ahh..." he stuttered.

"You are Shinichi without your glasses."

Shinichi's small hands went straight to his face to discover, yes, he'd left his glasses up in Kogoro's room. Shit! Worse than shit! Fucking shit! Now what do I...oh no...

The minimized detective stared at Ran. She was curled on the couch, an afghan wrapped around her form. But peeking out from underneath the afghan, Ran's toes were dry and cracked. On the coffee table was a large glass of water with a straw. Ran was pale and her nose was running like she had a cold. And her eyes. They were slowly dilating.

No... Not Ran! She had been poisoned. But how? He hadn't seen any thick plastic anywhere in the apartment. But then, the previous day was trash day, so he couldn't go looking for any evidence. If she was sick then she would have gotten the dose Monday, the day Genta got home. Or Tuesday, when Ayumi returned, at the latest. He certainly hadn't seen any gifts left in his shoe locker and Ran hadn't mentioned anything of the sort. So how did this happen? They hadn't received any gifts recent... Oh. When he'd come home from Genta's, he'd found on his dinner plate a pair of dolls - Holmes and Watson - with a note from his mother. Given her propensity to tease him, he hadn't thought anything of it at the time. But if that gift wasn't from his mother, then-

"Come here, Shinichi. We need to talk."

This must be her hallucination. That I'm me. Too bad her hallucination is the truth. Against his will, Shinichi's tiny feet brought him to the couch were he climbed up and sat opposite her, curling his knees to his chest. Ran looked at him with her slowly dilating eyes so calmly. Why wasn't she reacting violently? Was her delirium just starting, or did this drug affect people at different age levels? How would that work?

"Oh Shinichi, it's been so long." Her voice was off. Lower and the rhythm over annunciated. She'd been poisoned. The Black Organization wasn't just testing elementary kids. Of course they'd be testing all age groups. That made sense, but wouldn't they-

"Shinichi? Please talk to me!" Ran's eyes started to water. "Shinichi? Is it true? I always thought you... But you never told me this, does that mean you... Shinichi?" Her voice never quavered and suddenly, Shinichi's mind was a complete blank.

...

She's hallucinating. She's been poisoned with this. That means that she won't remember any of this. And probably today, maybe yesterday as well. And despite how selfish a thought it was, Shinichi couldn't help it. I can really talk to her. About everything and anything. Oh God! I've missed it so much! The drug is for hallucinations. It won't kill her or leave permanent damage; Genta and Ayumi are walking proof of that. Would it really be okay for me to just steal a few hours with her? To just be with her, even if I'm not me but I can finally be me?

And in his exhaustion, Shinichi made a selfish decision.

"Ran," he started, his voice thick as his own eyes started to well up. He scraped at them angrily. "Oh Ran, don't you dare think that I don't care!"

"But-"

"I care!" he said more firmly. "Ran I care so much I-" Worlds failed him. "So many people have told me, repeatedly, that you can't know I'm me. That it's the only way to keep you safe. Ran, I miss you-"

"Safe? Shinichi?" Ran leaned forward, her eyes still partly dilated and filled with tears, as she looked him calmly in the face. "Shinichi? What's happened to you? Why are you Conan-kun?"

The small detective took a deep breath. "That, Ran, is going to take a lot of explaining."

"I'm waiting."

I guess it's a good thing that the damn poison is keeping her somewhat calm (Why isn't she getting violent like everyone else has?)... I'd hate to think what'd happen if I told her and she was herself... I'll still have to some day since she won't remember this...

Shinichi held very little back. He told her of that doomed day at Tropical Land. Of hurrying to create an identity because he thought it would just be a temporary embarrassment...

"I really thought the nightmare would be over quickly. But it just kept going on and on and on."

"Yes, I know, Shinichi. You were gone and gone and gone."

... Of Agasa and his parents repeatedly telling him to stay hidden...

"Your parents knew?"

"Not by my choice. Agasa told them. My mother even masqueraded as 'Conan's mother' to check in on me from time to time. Scared the hell out of me when she first showed up."

"Indeed."

... Of his encounters with shadowed figures in black who were heartless killers...

"You mean that girl from that bank job only died because..."

"Because she was trying to free her sister from the Organization. She knew they existed so she was a threat."

"But...but...that's just so...so..."

"I know, Ran... I know..."

... Of how once he saw their ruthlessness the importance of keeping her safe and unknowing became all the more prevalent...

"They blew up a building just to get one person?"

"Yes. It is rather hard to defend yourself from them when you don't know they exist."

... Of how he met the nameless scientist who created the drug and received an even better idea of how extensive and cruel the shadows could be...

"Who is she? This scientist that shrunk you."

"I'm sorry, Ran. That's not my secret to tell."

"Shinichi..."

"I'm telling you everything that has happened to me, Ran. I've missed being able to talk to you. But surely you've realized that this Organization is just evil. I won't compromise her secret. It's not mine."

... He told it all.

Through his explanation, he kept a close eye on his childhood friend. The poison had muted her feelings, no doubt. (Shouldn't she be yelling at him? Throwing him across the room? Something like that?) Not that the feelings weren't there. Shinichi, after all, had a lifetime's worth of knowledge of her and he'd come to know her even better since being reduced. There was pain tightening her eyes. Her lips thinned. And the tears that welled in her eyes would leak out at the particularly painful parts.

Shinichi let out a sigh as he finished.

"Ah," Ran said, leaning back, her eyes fixed on his. "So that's why you were always so reluctant to take a bath with me."

"Hyguah!" Shinichi coughed, his face easily turning ten shades of red. That poison's hallucinations just have to bring up the most embarrassing and shameful events, doesn't it! Argh! "Ran! I tried to... I mean I didn't... It's just... Urgh!"

She wiped at her eyes, her dried fingers leaving small trails of slightly flaked skin. "You don't trust me."

And just like that they were back to the seriousness of it all. Damn hallucination induced mood swings. Damn propane alkaloid poison. Damn everything. But I can finally talk so I don't give a damn.

Shinichi let out another sigh and gave a soft, sad, wistful smile. "It wasn't about trusting you Ran." He wiped at his eyes again. "Ultimately, there were two reasons for never telling you. First, follow me through a hypothesis. Knowing who I am, imagine another murder investigation. Another suspect being cornered. Now picture them pulling out a knife and stabbing me. Whose name do you call out?"

Ran scowled at him. Or semi-scowled given her muted state. "Shinichi..."

"Exactly. You'd call me by my real name. I've done it repeatedly with you, calling you Ran instead of Ran-nee-chan when I thought you were in trouble. Now that mistake with me can be easily explained. Conan's grown up in America and they refer to siblings by name, no suffix." Shinichi looked into Ran's eyes. She had to understand this. She had to. "But how can you explain away you calling me 'Shinichi' instead of 'Conan' in a moment of crisis? Especially, given how many murders we keep coming across, that it would probably happen more than once."

Ran's frown deepened. "Shinichi. Is this Organization so powerful that they'd have some sort of agent at every murder case we stumble into?"

"It would only take once."

Ran's lips thinned again. "The other reason?"

To this, Shinichi looked down. "I couldn't trust myself."

"Eh?"

"You're you Ran." He scrubbed his eyes again, trying to find the right words for something he'd felt a long time but had never had to vocalize before. "I've thought a lot about this. You'd be better knowing because you could defend yourself. Maybe not against bullets, but you could prepare. You could be watchful and attentive. You might spot things ahead of me given that you're now taller than me. You are a karate champion for God's sake. You can kick ass, especially of anyone who'd be stupid enough to attack.

"Ran, being able to be me around you would make life so much easier. So much easier that I'd let my guard down. I already let my guard down a lot around you. So much so that you've suspected about me being me for a while. I slip up enough when I have to be Conan full-time. I don't want to think how much I'll slip up if I don't have to be Conan all the time. I can't risk you like that..."

Shinichi's head bent lower. "I can't lose you, Ran. You mean too much to me." And finally, the dam broke. Everything that Shinichi had been holding in since he'd first been shrunken became too much to bear. It all came pouring out. The feelings he could never say, the anger he could never express, the longing he could never show, the pain of his situation that ate away at him like acid. Everything he'd crushed down and buried deep in his soul came surging up and out and he had no choice but to weather the storm.

Somewhere during the flood, Shinichi became aware of arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly. Tears and sobs were echoing around his ears that weren't his own. The body that held him shuddered under waves of emotions. The tsunami that both pairs of feelings generated engulfed them, drowning them, so that they clung to each other like buoys.

"Never wanted to lie... got so buried in it... couldn't get out... Oh Ran... so sorry... Never wanted to hurt you... not you... don't deserve you... hurt you so much... sorry..."

"Shinichi... Shinichi... waited so long for you... there all along... you've suffered so much... still mad but you're finally here... not leaving me again..."

And both said, "I love you."

And, much to Shinichi's shock, Ran kissed him soundly.

"Mph! Mmmmmmm..." Shinichi leaned in, thoughts scattered to the four winds until he tried to put his hands in her hair. Then, the full state of his shrunken form crashed down onto him again. He pushed back, "No, Ran," he mumbled around her larger mouth. "Not like this! Not Conan! Let it be me!"

Ran's face was flushed as she continued leaning forward, pressing him back onto the sofa cushions. "Shinichi! You're Shinichi!" Her voice was starting to slur. "Pleasssse, Shinichi, 've been waiting ssoo long for thisss..." and she placed another open-mouthed kiss over him.

"Shit, Ran!" He wiggled and shifted, trying to get away. This wasn't right... This wasn't what he wanted. No, it was what he wanted on lonely nights, but not like this. Finally, he was able to slide off the couch, escaping her arms and landing with a thud on the floor.

"...shini...chi..."

He stood up quickly and looked at her unmoving form. She looked like she was asleep, but her fingers and toes remained dry and cracked. Shinichi had forgotten that she'd been poisoned. It had been so wonderful to just talk to her, that his current case flew from his mind. His stolen hours had left the damn drug more time to work its way through her system.

"Dammit, Ran!" He would not lose her.

The Great Sleeping Kogoro, as his name indicated, valued his sleep immensely. Nothing, save a call from a client, could interrupt his nocturnal hours of rest. (Even calls from clients were often ignored in favor of some precious shut-eye, but for all his mumbling and grumbling, he would come if the call was urgent enough.) Interrupting his quality-time with his pillow often resulted in him grousing and growling at whoever had dared to disturb his slumber until they left him alone so he could go back to sleep. Of course, his daughter and their young charge were probably the only people (outside of his wife, but she wasn't around anymore...) whom he couldn't grunt away to let him have more sleep.

That didn't mean he didn't try.

So, when his warm sheets were suddenly ripped off of him, exposing him to the chill night air, he awoke ready to make heads roll.

As usual, it was his miniscule roommate who had decided to wake him up. Kogoro fumed. This little brat always woke him up in the middle of the night for no reason other than snoring (which he did not, thank you very much).

With a swift knock on the noggin to reestablish just who was in charge, Kogoro finally woke up enough to really look at the kid.

To say the boy looked exhausted would be an understatement. There were still dark circles under the boy's eyes and he was looking incredibly pale. There were faint trails down his cheeks indicating that the child had recently been crying and he wasn't wearing his glasses.

Now Kogoro had raised his precious daughter Ran. He knew the look of a child who had just woken up from a bad dream and was upset. But Ran was special. She was his daughter. Kogoro wouldn't be a parent to a child that still had parents somewhere else; it wasn't his place to do so. "I'm not dealing with your nightmares," he grunted, reaching down to try and grab his cooling blankets.

The brat would have none of that, however, and grabbed his sleeve, still looking down to the floor. "It's Ran-nee-chan," he said quietly.

Kogoro rolled his eyes. "Ran's old enough to handle her nightmares, kid. Now get some sleep."

"Ojii-san," the child yanked at his sleeve. "That's not it. Ran-nee-chan's sick. She's sick like all the kids at my school."

That sent shivers through Kogoro's whole body. He'd been watching the news and reading the newspapers like everyone else. He knew about the illness of students that had been going on at the elementary school. While he was in the middle of his own case, that didn't mean he didn't study it on his own, despite what he'd told Ran. After all, there was the chance that the brat staying with them could catch whatever strange warped-flu-strain was going around. With no client, two mouths to feed, and bills piling up, he couldn't afford to just go diving into the case (even if, realistically, grateful parents would probably pay him) without knowing that there'd be a paycheck coming. But this epidemic wasn't going away and it was getting worse.

But it was only affecting little kids, right?

"What... What did you say?" Kogoro choked on the words, not entirely sure he really wanted an answer.

"She's sick, Ojii-san. She keeps calling me by Shinichi-niichan's name."

Hallucinations. Because there was absolutely no way that the missing detective could have been shrunk to a little child.

Kogoro was out of his bed quickly. "Where is she?"

"The living room..."

Kogoro rushed down the hall and down the stairs. Ran was on the sofa, face down, an afghan wrapped around her. Her feet and hands were visible and he could see the cracked skin that was trying to flake off.

"Ran!" he cried out. Nononononononono, not my daughter Ran! He knelt down beside her, a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking it. "Ran, wake up! Come on Ran, tell me that kid is wrong. Ran!"

"Hnnnnn," she gave a small moan. Slowly her eyes opened and Kogoro could see that they were partially dilated. No! Ran!

"Shinichi?"

"Ran? Are you okay?"

"Where's Shinichi?"

"Ran, you're sick, we need to-"

Ran wasn't listening, however, she was looking around frantically. "Shinichi? Shinichi! You said you wouldn't leave me! Shinichi!"

"Ran! It's me, your father, listen to me, Ran..."

But she didn't recognize him. She glanced at him, saw an obstacle, and the next thing that Kogoro knew, he was flying across the room and crashing into his desk. Owwww... Oh yeah, hallucinations tend to be violent... Can't get her aggravated... Owwww...

"There you are, Shinichi!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Ran. But I don't think Occhan appreciated being tossed across the room."

The sleeping detective wondered if that little brat had had acting lessons back in America. Because there wasn't a sign of hesitation or fear or confusion at what was going on. Hell, even the speech pattern was the same as the Kudo brat. But Kogoro could (avoid) complement the kid later. Right now he had to get his car and get Ran to the hospital and call Eri.

Oh, Eri was going to freak.

"Tou-san?"

"Owwww..." If he could ever get up, that was.

Ran appeared in his line of vision, holding the kid close to her with a fierce protectiveness and possessiveness. "Tou-san! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

She's calm... Keep her calm... "Um, Ran? I could use a little help..."

"Of course! Oh I'm so sorry..." Ran shifted the kid's weight but never let go of him. Kogoro took her offered hand and was finally able to pull himself up to his feet.

Her eyes seemed to clear a little, which Kogoro prayed was a good sign. She looked to the little brat in her arms and raised an eyebrow in some sort of silent inquiry. The kid seemed to know what she was asking and shook his head.

Ran nodded. "Um, so, ah, Conan-kun?" There was hesitation in her voice. "Why are you up so late? What time is it anyway?"

Kogoro let out a sigh of relief. She recognized the kid as the kid. Thank you God.

"Ran," he drew her attention, carefully (and very slowly) putting a hand to her forehead. "You're burning up. You don't look well. Why don't we get you to see a doctor?"

"Dad, I'm fine, I..."

"Ran-nee-chan?" She stopped, looking to the child in her arms that she was still holding onto tightly. "It's better to be safe than sorry, right? Who knows what's poisoned you?"

Her face went pale, and tears sprang to her eyes. "Yes, you're right...Shi...Conan-kun. Dad? Why don't you get dressed? You can take me to the doctor."

Kogoro wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Ran was recognizing their little guest as their guest, but if that little slip was any indication, she still thought she was looking at the Kudo brat. This meant she was coming out of her hallucination, right?

"Ran, don't you want to change?"

"I'm not leaving Conan-kun," she replied sharply. "We'll get our coats. It's chilly tonight Dad, make sure you wear something warm. Conan-kun and I will be fine."

"O-Okay." Kogoro went to his room to grab some pants and his keys. While there, he rummaged around for his phone and glared at it. They were going to have to meet Eri at the hospital.

Everything was fuzzy. And warm. Fuzzy and warm. But that wasn't comfortable at all.

"... she does have the same symptoms as the children..."

"... she be okay, Doctor...?"

Concentration was a shattered thing, thoughts barely able to form.

"... will know more with some tests..."

Still, with effort, scattered bits of self-began to slowly reassemble.

"... how did it happen, Kogoro...?"

"... don't know... musta caught it a few days ago..."

She ached. Not as bad as having the flu, but she was definitely uncomfortable in her own body.

"... so tired..."

"... of course... it's dawn..."

She'd had such a peculiar dream.

"... let's get you home... could use a shower..."

"... don't want to leave her..."

"... me neither... but we're both just barely decent in pajamas..."

"... fine..."

But the dream was so realistic. She had finally been able to confront Conan-kun (again) on her suspicions of him actually being Shinichi. And rather than deny or evade or squirm, he'd admitted to it. They had talked. Shinichi, little seven-year-old Shinichi, had explained a great deal. She was still furious with him. She understood his reasons, he had laid them out very clearly, but that didn't change all the hurt she'd gone through. All the worry. And Shinichi had watched her suffer. It made her livid. Until he finally broke down. When she had seen him collapse into tears, trying valiantly but being unable to hold them back, her heart had instinctually reached out to him. For all that she had suffered, he had suffered right along with her silently. It didn't make everything okay, it didn't make what he did right, but Ran could never deny Shinichi the right to cry, since he never let himself cry unless everything had built up to the point where he couldn't handle it any more.

And this had been building for a long, long time.

But that was all a dream, right? There wasn't really some Organization that was out murdering people under the police's noses or developing drugs to addict the public or poison the public or run extortion rackets or blackmail people or buy politicians or...

She shuddered. She didn't want to think about that, because if Shinichi was going up against all that alone it was really no wonder he tried so hard to stay hidden. (But from her?)

By shuddering, however, she realized that someone was sitting at the foot of her bed. Putting weird (and scary) dreams aside, she thought back. During her dream, she remembered her father and Shini-Conan-kun convincing her to go to the hospital. Given the smell and the fact that the bed she was in was somewhat reclined instead of flat, she knew she actually was in a hospital. (That meant that part of the dream was real, not the whole thing, only part because Organizations didn't exist...) She had vague recollections of not letting anyone take Shi-Conan away from her because she thought that Conan was Shinichi (really, that was a dream, right?) and the doctors having to sedate her as a result. Conan kept her calm, despite her remembering the instinct to give anyone a karate-chop if they got to close to pull Shinichi (Conan!) away from her.

She remembered her parents trying to talk to her, but she'd been too out of it to answer. She remembered hearing her parents saying something about showers. But they would have taken Conan with them, right? But that small weight at the foot of her bed, resting at her feet was the right size for the shrunken Shinichi (Conan! Get it straight!) How had he convinced her parents to stay behind? Of course, if it was Shinichi, he'd just stay quiet and hidden like he'd been doing for months and her parents would have forgotten about him. Really, she felt she was the only one who looked after Shinichi... Conan.

Well, the only way to verify her observations and deductions was to open her eyes.

To say she was shocked at how much effort and will she had to muster to just open her eyes into slits was an understatement. Really, she wasn't that bad off, was she?

But, sure enough, there was Shinichi, setting against the footboard of her hospital bed, leaning onto her legs, glasses askew, the picture of exhaustion.

Shinichi... No, Conan-kun... She felt for him. No doubt seeing her so sick was frightening. Of course, she wondered what she had. That dream was so realistic; maybe she'd had a fever dream?

She let her eyes settle back down, that small amount of work seeming to have tired her.

The door to her room opened and soft footsteps entered with the smell of flowers.

Shi...Conan spoke in the low mature tones he always seemed to refrain from using around her. "You. I'm in no mood for your riddles or attempts at humor. I've told you repeatedly to stop dressing up as me. Go away."

The voice that replied sent her heart racing. It was Shinichi's voice.

What? Ran's mind whirled. Yes, it was known that Kaitou Kid had disguised himself as Shinichi once, but Conan made it sound like the mysterious thief had done it more than once. Wait a minute. Didn't Conan-kun say to "stop dressing up as me"? Does that mean my dream... wasn't a dream? Didn't Shinichi say that Kaitou Kid had dressed up as him when he was explaining everything to me? That was all true? Despite being relaxed in bed, Ran felt a little dizzy as all the implications settled around her.

There was the sound of a spray and Ran opened her eyes enough to see the disguised Kid (he really looked like Shinichi) spray some sort of pink gas at the real Shinichi (he's so small...). "Don't worry tantei-kun. After some sleep you'll feel better. Plus I gave a friend of yours a call. You won't be alone for all this. You need some back up."

Shinichi struggled to stand before collapsing into Kid's arms. The smoke dissipated quickly and Ran struggled with herself. Shinichi really was helpless in the form of a child. He couldn't defend himself. She had to do something! Even if Kaitou Kid was known for never hurting anyone, she wasn't about to let someone take Shinichi away after she just got him back.

"Shinichi..." her voice cracked. She swallowed and tried again. "Shinichi!" Drawing on her karate-trained focus, she started to sit up. Reaching out a hand for the small form cradled in the thief's hands, she tried again to make her body work. "Shinichi!"

A nurse came rushing in. "Stand back," the nurse said firmly. "She's hallucinating again."

No! I'm not! Don't let him take Shinichi away! I need him! I have to talk to him! "Shinichi!" But the not-boy stayed oblivious. The thief-imposter, however, leaned forward, putting a hand through her hair as the nurse put something in Ran's IV.

"Ran," Shinichi's voice and speech patterns. "It's fine. You're safe. I'm just going to take Conan-kun to my house for a while. I don't think your dad can look after him at the moment."

The sedative was pulling her down and the nurse was gently pushing her back in bed.

Ran glared fiercely at the thief. "You are not Shinichi," she growled. "Give him back to me."

And, true to a thief who could impersonate anyone, a look of pain flashed across the face of not-Shinichi. "It's okay, Ran. Your parents will be here when you wake up. I'm just going to look after Conan-kun."

"Shi...ni...chi!"

Ran faded back into darkness.

Ahou! How was I s'pposed t' know all cell phones were t'be turned off durin' the landing? ... No, I did _not_ do it 'n purpose, fer cryin' out loud! ... Oh, get over yerself, ahou!"

Heiji flipped his phone closed just for spite, right when Kazuha's particular shriek started to announce itself, and growled as he stuffed the object back in his pocket, muttering to himself. "Take the time t' wait 'til she's better, give'r advanced notice I'm visitn' Kudo even before he calls, but noooo, I need t'call as soon as I land, 'n' if I'm three seconds late boom! Pushy, bossy, swelled up..."

Shaking the irritation off, Heiji tugged at his pack, shifting the weight from one shoulder to another. A few changes of clothes was one thing, but something was sitting wrong in his gut, and he'd brought his sword, carefully wrapped and boxed, to satisfy a nervous sense he'd developed since learning about Kudo's... small problem.

His gut instinct had only gone from bad to worse when he'd visited the Mouri apartment. No one was there, and at seven in the morning that was unheard of. Even if Ran and Kudo had gone off to school early, Mouri would still be there, working off his most recent hangover so he could open his next can of beer. The door was locked, but the doormat was askew, as if someone had slid on it in his or her rush out the door, and Mouri's car wasn't anywhere to be found. It just didn't _feel_ right, and any number of possibilities were floating through Heiji's head, each darker than the last.

It didn't take much for someone in the know to recognize the Organization's influence in recent events. Kazuha's illness - no, poisoning - in combination of other high school students in month intervals would only have made him wonder if it wasn't for the sick kids in Beika. Kudo was probably caught between being worried out of his mind and scared out of his mind, all the while chasing after the bastards. Heiji wondered what kind of shape he'd find his best friend in.

Turning the corner, Hattori slowed as he reached the gate of the Kudo household. First glance showed no signs of life, but Heiji, like Kudo, saw a lot more on first glance than other people. He eyed the recent wear on the doorknob, the scuffmarks on the mat, a dark brown hair. Frowning, Hattori rang the doorbell, hoping to narrow down the possible reasons for the extra hair.

Imagine his surprise, then, when Kudo answered the door. Not Conan, _Kudo_ , seventeen years old, in dark wash jeans and a collared shirt unbuttoned at the top.

"Kudo?!" he blurted out in surprise. "What're y'doing big? What happened t' make ya take a pill?"

Even more surprising, Kudo's eyes blinked in blank incomprehension before there was a low whistle. "Follow me," he said without ceremony, turning around.

The behavior was unusual for Kudo, but Heiji followed anyway, hoping to find more clues. He saw Kudo's and Conan's shoes on the genkan as he pulled off his own, and there was recent activity in the kitchen - take out bags and an open microwave - and as Heiji was led upstairs he wondered what these clues were leading him too.

"I think the one you want to talk to is in there," Kudo said, twisting a doorknob open before stepping aside to let the Osakajin in. He gave Kudo a long, hard stare, not quite trusting something about his old friend. But the only way to learn anything was to go into Kudo's bedroom, and so he stepped in.

To find Conan sprawled on the bed, a jacket draped over his tiny form as a blanket.

"Kudo?!" Then who-

Heiji spun around and stepped back into the hall. "Who the hell're y-"

But there was only a puff of smoke where the fake Kudo was.

Head swiveling around, Heiji could find no immediate signs of either the imposter or his escape. His first urge was to try and follow, but his brain was still back on the image of Kudo on the bed; his face half covered by the jacket, no motion whatsoever, body limp... If he was dead...

Spinning another hundred-eighty degrees he stomped back into Kudo's room. "Kudo? Kudo! Hey, open yer eyes!"

A bleary blue eye responded to the shaking. "... Hattori?" a disturbingly young voice murmured.

The green-eyed detective breathed an enormous sigh of relief. "Geez, Kudo, y'really know how t' scare a guy."

It took hours for Kudo to wake up after that; whatever the imposter had drugged him with was still in his system. The Detective of the West let the teen trapped as a child sleep, instead busying himself about the house, laying down his pack in a spare room (but not before pulling out his sword, he was going to be armed at all times and damn that he was right to bring it) and doing a more thorough inventory of the kitchen. Hattori didn't trust the take out, but he found some instant coffee for when Kudo awoke.

There were also the calls. He left a message on the Mouri answering service, letting them know he was there and crashing at Kudo's, that Conan was there and sleeping, and he faltered after that, not knowing what else to say. The fake Kudo surely would have been there to pick up the real one, and knew that Kudo was Kudo and not Conan, but what could he say to it? So he just didn't bring it up.

Later he pulled out the phonebook for takeout (he didn't _dare_ leave the house with Kudo alone) that he did trust, and was soon filling the fridge with foods he recalled his best friend liked, along with unearthing a box of tea on top of the instant coffee, and two boxes of crackers. The house had been virtually abandoned, leaving little else in the kitchen that was salvageable. Wandering the house, however, Heiji saw that Kudo somehow found time to stop in occasionally to clean it. Dust was a fine layer covering everything, but it was not the thick layer one would expect of a location that had been left all but derelict.

His primary occupation, however, was trying to discover how the imposter had disappeared (literally) from right under his nose in a puff of smoke. It didn't take long to find a small capsule, broken open, that no doubt held the puff of smoke - a visual distraction while the imposter made his getaway. Heiji examined the residue - he couldn't be a hundred percent, but he was pretty sure it was a potassium chloride and sodium bicarbonate mixture. Rather than being pressurized, it appeared as thought the chemicals were stored in separate compartments of the small pellet, mixed when broken and the moisture of the air in the house did the rest to generate the smoke. Simple in proof but clearly delicately handled in execution; Heiji couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship of the smoke capsule's remains.

Frowning, he moved on to look for other evidence. Going back to the front door, Heiji needed his microscope to look for traces of the lock being picked; only there was none. In point of fact, the keys were left in the living room. That made sense, Heiji realized, because they were Kudo's keys. There was no need to pick the lock if the seven year old you were dragging around actually had a set. But wait, did Kudo really carry his house keys around? He didn't visit often, there would be no need to keep them on his person; and this was belying the way Kudo went out of his way to keep his identity secret - that would include having house keys of "Shinichi-nii-chan" on his person for no reason.

It was a barb then, a blatant statement of, "I can get in whenever I want." That irked Heiji to the extreme, and he resolved to tell Kudo to change the locks - he'd pay for it, if necessary.

It was early afternoon by the time his one-time rival and best friend padded down the stairs. Heiji wordlessly heated up a cup of coffee, and the small detective was soon nursing his second cup, much more alert if no less exhausted.

"Y'look like hell, Kudo," Hattori offered finally. "What happened?"

And it all boiled down to one sentence: "Ran was poisoned."

"... Shit," was about all Heiji could offer. "How'd it happen?"

For the next hour the shrunken Shinichi explained what had been happening for the past three weeks, starting with the discovery of Genta's arrival to the hospital and Ayumi's terrible hallucinations to the overabundance of legwork and painful assembly of clues, starting with a detailed list of symptoms to the states of the sick children's rooms to a timeline of who got sick when. Heiji whistled at the level of detail he heard.

"You don't keep a notebook anymore, right?"

"Ah."

"Kudo, y'never cease t' impress me; t' keep track of all this! Even fer people as detail oriented as us, y'can't help but be impressed."

The pint-sized detective frowned, shrugging his shoulder. "Details don't do a detective much good if he can't put it together." That was when he explained Haibara's discoveries when she analyzed the blood sample Kudo had managed to get, the propane alkaloid compound and who (really, who else?) could deliberately poison children.

"They're testing the effectiveness of the drugs, and likely its side effects and duration and other things. Whoever's distributing this likely has at the very least rudimentary medical training and a connection to the hospital to track the results. Either that or there are people working in tandem."

"I doubt that," Heiji interjected. "At least, not 'n one location."

Kudo's brain came to a full stop at that sentence, his eyes widening in horror as the full scope of what Heiji had divulged opened before him.

"I didn' get th' chance t' tell you Kudo," Heiji explained solemnly, "why I decided t' visit ya. Kazuha was poisoned jus' like yer kids 'n' Nee-chan were. Damn near broke m' arm when she started hallucinatin'. She just got outta the hospital 'couple days ago. After yer school got on th' news, I did some checkin'. Once a month, a high school kid'll show up with th' exact symptoms ya've been describin'. I'll bet money there's a middle school somewhere that's gettin' the same problem. The question's how come they got all overindulgent here? Poisonin' so many kids at once?"

"I don't know," Kudo replied, rubbing his chin in thought, his head dipping down. Absently he fingered his long empty cup of coffee.

"I still don't get why they got Nee-chan," Heiji ventured slowly.

"That's easy: it was meant for me." That brought about the explanation of Kudo's discovery on how the poison was introduced, a gift in the footlocker that was cut and opened, cutting the child. The boy's voice dropped even lower - sounding almost like his real voice - as he explained watching the freckled Mitsuhiko get sick. And wasn't it convenient, Kudo explained, that it wasn't long after he made the discovery and passed it on to the doctors, that a plastic wrapped box of Holmes and Watson action figures "sent from Mama" appeared on his doorstep, that Ran had opened and placed on a dinner plate for him, not thinking much of the small cut she's received on her finger from trying to open the thick plastic.

"But how the heck'd they figure out it w's you? Y' let the cop take th' credit fer the discovery."

"I don't know," Kudo admitted, "And that's really bothering me."

A long silence fell between the two young men, both lost in their thoughts.

Heiji was about to change topics, instead bringing up the imposter (because if it was really Organization, his best friend would be dead now), when Kudo opened his mouth first.

"The only way to do this is to draw Them out." The mumble almost wasn't heard.

Heiji blinked. "What?"

"We need to draw _Them_ out."

"... _What?!_ " Heiji became saucer-eyed as he stared at his shrunken best friend, the mini detective's eyes hidden both under his glasses and his hair, mouth obscured by the tiny hand that held his chin. "Are y' outta yer _mind_?!"

Kudo looked up, his blue eyes exhausted, haggard, and utterly lost; but under that was an expression Heiji knew all too well; one he often wore whenever looking at his father:

Defiance.

"They're too good at hiding," Kudo was explaining, Heiji still trying to process what he was hearing and getting over the shock of seeing that kind of expression on his friend's face. "There isn't enough evidence to deduce who's performing the distribution - something I never thought I'd say - and even if we did, _They_ would just quietly (or not so quietly) replace him, leaving us back at square one: no clues. If we're going to catch Them and _make Them pay_ , we have to lure them out into the open. The only way to do that is to get their attention, and the only way to do _that_ is if I start dropping more hints that I know about them."

"Yuh've lost one t' many hours sleep, Kudo," Heiji exclaimed. "Listen to what y're saying: Y're deliber'tely puttin' yerself out 'n the open. Y're riskin' exposure! If it doesn't work, then They know abou'cha and boom! You die fer real!"

"If it does work we'll have one of Them in custody," Kudo responded, his eyes still defiant. "The Japanese government will know about them, and the noose will be a little bit tighter. Don't worry, I'll be careful. I'll make sure they only get me."

" _It's suicide!_ " Heiji shouted, banging his fist on the table. He wasn't expecting this. A worried, exhausted, even fragile Kudo was one thing, he'd seen all variations of that; even a desperate Kudo he'd seen, but never, _never_ an _irrational_ Kudo. "Let's jus' say it does work, They'll still know abou'cha! An' everyone'll be at risk! Izzat what ya want? _Is catchin' 'em worth killin' Nee-chan_?"

Something in Kudo's face changed; it darkened like Heiji had only ever glimpsed before, the pain much more raw, as if the last hint of self restraint had sapped out of the diminutive detective.

Heiji's tone dropped, his face grave as he tried to drive the fact home. "Hurting yourself won't make Nee-chan's suffering any better," he said in clear, standard tones.

A small, ironic and loathing smile flitted across Kudo's face. "Maybe being rid of me and all the danger that follows me is for the best," he said quietly. Then he snapped open his wristwatch, Heiji dumbfounded as the tranquilizer needle pricked into his neck.

"Kudo-what-" But the dart was already doing its job, adding weight to his limbs, closing his eyes for him. He'd never tried to _stop_ Kudo from doing anything, he had no idea how to do it, and now it was too late. His head banged on the table before he collapsed across the kitchen floor. "K... Kudo..."

But he fell asleep.

"I try and try and _try_ , and she _still_ got hurt. All I ever _do_ is hurt her, and _I can't stop it_. What good... what good am I?"

Then he heard a faint, "Kudo!"

Spinning his head around, he saw the other detective, Hattori, skidding to a halt, looking around to find his friend.

"You know," he said, "For a guy that isn't much good, you sure have a lot of people who worry about you. I wonder what's wrong with them, unless they see something you don't?"

"Kudooo!"

Hattori ran up to him, panting and out of breath.

"Don'cha... _pant_... evah... _huff, huff_... do that... _gulp_... again... Ahou!"

"Hattori..."

"Ahou! ... Stupid thick headed... ahou! I oughta hit cha! Ya think yer're th' only one involved in this? Ya think I'd jus' stan' aside 'n' let cha get yerself killed? Ahou! Yer're better 'n 'at!"

Hattori continued to pant and catch his breath, Shinichi staring at his best friend, wide eyed. The tall Osakan kept muttering "ahou" under his breath.

He remembered Ran, in her hallucinations, being so grateful that he'd returned to her, been with her all the time; and then he looked at Hattori, having run likely half the city to the ground to try and find him. And Kaitou Kid, in his own whimsical way, making sure Everybody's Safe. To expend so much effort for him, over him, after everything he'd done...

He gave a soft, tired smile, one that made Hattori pause in his panting tirade.

"Sorry, Hattori," Shinichi said in low tones. "I guess... I guess I lost my head."

"Damn straight!" Hattori shouted, but there was no malice in it, as he straightened and wiped the sweat from his chin. " 'm gonna have a welt th' size o' riceball thanks t' that sleep dart."

Shinichi grinned and shrugged his shoulders, putting his hands in his pockets. "I don't know," he offered, "We can hope it's an improvement."

Ran flipped a page in her book though nothing she read was really registering in her brain. The past two days had been... the best word was probably confusing. She was still in the hospital. Thankfully, though, she'd be released soon. Both her parents and the doctors had informed her that she had the same poisoning the elementary students of Beika had been suffering from. This didn't make much sense to her. She'd spoken to both Genta-kun and Ayumi-chan since their release from the hospital, and neither remembered anything of their illness or hallucinations. Ran, however, had very clear memories of everything that had happened to her, both before and after hospitalization. She remembered her long talk with Shinichi and the thief Kaitou Kid spiriting the shrunken sleuth away...

But that had been two days ago. And that was her hallucination, right? After Kaitou Kid had taken away Shinichi, Ran had awoken to her parents' worried faces and that was all she had seen since - no visitors outside of family while the doctors monitored her condition. It had taken work (and her mother holding back her father from going for a doctor every time) but she had stopped referring to Conan as Shinichi. Ran understood her father's concern. She had thrown him across the room for no reason.

But even though the doctors were pleased with her improvement, Ran couldn't bring herself to tell them that she remembered her "hallucinations". That if she thought about it enough, she was certain that they weren't hallucinations or dreams, but the truth.

She needed to talk to Conan. But he never visited her. Kogoro had told her that "the Osakan brat" was looking after him, since he himself was busy. When Eri had demanded what was more important than looking after a child, he replied hotly that his time was divided between hospital visits and three tailing jobs he'd taken on to take care of the bills. If the Osakan brat wanted to take a little responsibility off his shoulders, he wouldn't argue. Eri quieted after that. Then pulled his ear about letting their finances get that bad. Ran chuckled at the memory.

But that didn't change the fact that she needed to talk to Conan. To see if that bizarre dream was just a dream or not. And if Conan really was a shrunken Shinichi and he really was supposed to be dead to stay safe, then there was much that needed discussion. Like trust. Except it wasn't about trust for Shinichi. Or rather, it wasn't about not trusting her, at any rate. Shinichi: brilliant, confident Shinichi, didn't trust himself with the stakes so high... and the possible price so great...

Ran flipped another page.

"Ran!"

"Eh?" the hospitalized teen looked up to see Sonoko dive into her arms, sobbing.

"Ran! I was so worried! You didn't come to school and I couldn't reach you at your home or anyone for that matter and it wasn't until I called your mom that I found out you got the same disease as the kids. Ran-chan, are you okay?"

Ran couldn't help but chuckle and hug her best friend a little closer. "I'm fine, Sonoko, really I am." The heiress sat back, wiping away tears. "I'll be released in about three days and back to school before you know it!"

"I'm so glad," Sonoko sniffed. Without the other girl in her arms, Ran took a moment to study her friend.

"Wait a minute! Sonoko, did you skip school just to visit me?"

"Of course! I heard that even your husband was worried enough to sneak in to see you!" So that wasn't a dream. "I've been trying to come in since I found out, but your mother made sure all the nurses and staff knew what I looked like so I couldn't come in. Something about making sure you rest. Really, all I'd want is to talk! It's not like I'd make you start dancing or something."

Ran put on a smile. She'd think about Conan (Shinichi?) later. "I was very weak, Sonoko. Even asking how my parents were doing tired me out."

Sonoko pouted. "Fine fine!" she said airily. "Today's the first day they're letting in non-family visitors anyway." The heiress gave a soft smile. "I missed you, Ran."

"Me too."

Sonoko's smile grew wider and Ran just knew that Sonoko was all better. She worried, though, when the heiress's smile grew more sly. "Sooooo, I heard from the nurses that Shinichi actually came out of hiding from my wrath to check on you. How sweet! He's not hopeless after all!"

Ran sighed and, after a second's hesitation, lied to her best friend. "I don't remember it." She didn't want to talk about it.

"Awwww!" Sonoko sat back, looking disappointed. "I guess I still need to instill my wrath upon him."

Changing topics. "So, Sonoko, do you have some homework for me? I've been bored with nothing to do and I don't want to fall behind."

The heiress made a face. "No, I don't. I'll bring it in tomorrow."

"Thanks, Sonoko."

"Sure thing," she shrugged. "But I can catch you up on other things. Did you know..."

Ran put her book down with a smile and settled in for some much missed girl talk.

Hours later, Ran was smiling and feeling tired, but content. Being able to talk with Sonoko seemed to put everything back into perspective with a heavy dose of normal. If it wasn't for Sonoko's unknowing confirmation that Kaitou Kid had whisked Conan away, Ran could think the whole thing was just a dream.

She had settled down with her book, actually reading it this time, while waiting for the nurses to arrive and transfer her to a shared room now that she was doing so well. Her father had dropped by during her lunch and spent some time with her before heading back to his tailing jobs. Her mother had also stopped in shortly after, before she had to get to another meeting. Sonoko's visit that morning had really lifted her spirits and helped her push thoughts of Shinichi and Conan aside.

"Ya don't look sick 't all."

Ran looked up, surprised. "Hattorki-kun!" The Osakan detective grinned brightly as he took off his hat and jacket.

"Heard ya were sick butcha look fine t' me."

She smiled. "I'm still not quite back at full strength, but the doctors say the worst has passed."

Hattori nodded as he took a seat. "'Spected that. I hear the docs here gotta better handle on all o' this 'n' how ta treat it." He smiled somewhat sadly. "Wish they'd known all o' this 'en Kazuha was sick."

Ran felt ice suddenly run through her veins. "Kazuha-chan had this?!"

"Yep," Hattori crossed his arms and looked down. "'llucinations 'n' all. Nearly broke m' arm on 'a way home f'm school." The dark-skinned detective looked up with a smile. "She's b'n callin' m'ear off tryin' to find out how y'are. Never min' the whole No Visitors policy."

"Is Kazuha-chan alright?"

"'Course. Brought 'er back home earlier this week. She's pro'ly workin' her ass off ta get back inta shape. If her parents let 'er, that is."

"But she's okay?"

"Yeah. She's fine."

Ran let out a sigh of relief, and to her shock (and Hattori's as he didn't know what to do with it), tears started to flow down her cheeks as the emotional upheaval of the past few days and the uncertainty of her health and the questions she had for Conan flowed up and out. "Oh Hattori-kun," she sobbed. "I've been so scared!"

Under his breath Hattori muttered "...told Kudo he shoulda come but nooooo..." as he leaned forward and attempted to pat her on the shoulder.

She remembered Shinichi saying that Hattori knew of his... condition, but she didn't want to discuss it with him until she'd talked to Conan. Everything had to wait until she'd spoken to Conan. She didn't know what Hattori did or didn't know. Maybe parts of her "hallucinations" were real and other parts weren't. But the Osakan often called Conan "Kudo", something Shinichi despised as the chance of blowing his cover. Shinichi may have told Hattori that she'd been sick, but he may not have mentioned their talk; Shinichi was always private like that.

So she couldn't talk about what she needed to talk about.

"I'm sorry, Hattori-kun," she mumbled, trying to pull herself together. "The doctors have told me a little about this that they haven't told the media." Actually, all her information was from Shinichi and confirmed by what she'd seen and overheard from the doctors. "It's not an illness or disease but some sort of drug. The doctors don't think I got a full dose and the treatment they've started using on Mitsuhiko-kun and the more recent victims has worked really well on me, but it's still so scary..." She was babbling and she knew it. But she couldn't stop it. "My parents put on a good face in front of me, but I can tell this petrified them. I actually attacked my dad!"

Hattori's eyes widened. He hadn't known that. Either Shinichi hadn't told him or it was just a dream. But it wasn't a dream. She was so certain...

"Today was the first day that either of my parents have gone back to work and not spent the day with me...

"Poor Conan-kun. I haven't seen him since I was hospitalized. He hasn't come to visit. When I call home, he's not there, he's not at Professor Agasa's, none of his friends have seen him, Dad says you've been looking after him. Please, Hattori-kun, is he okay?"

Is he really Shinichi? Is he breaking down under all the stress he's under? He nearly broke in my arms, is he handling this or ignoring it? Did Kaitou Kid really take him back to the Kudo house? I've been too scared to call...

She couldn't talk about it, but as long as Hattori was there she was going to pry answers out of him, even if she had to call Kazuha to do it.

Heiji left the hospital feeling exhausted. Ran had a lot of worries that she wasn't showing her parents, but would show to Conan if he was around. But Kudo wasn't there and Heiji ended up being the next best thing for her. She had poked and prodded him about both Conan and Shinichi. If Heiji didn't know better, he'd swear Ran's hallucination had been about the two of them, but she claimed she didn't remember and Kudo refused to talk about it. And, while Heiji would admit that he lacked tact, he wouldn't pry into something so private unless someone brought it up to him.

He'd tried asking the doctors and nurses some questions about the poisoning, but was impressed with the stonewalling he'd received. The staff were petrified of anything leaking to the media, not that Heiji could blame them. Apparently, if you weren't a specific officer from the police department, nothing was to be said. Heiji admitted it was a good policy. Nobody wanted Tokyo panicking (or all of Japan for that matter) but it made for gathering information rather difficult.

"Che. Almost wish I waz Kudo-size. Then I'd b' able ta sneak 'n fer the stuff I needed..."

Heiji's stomach informed him that he hadn't eaten since early that morning before he'd gone down to chat with Inspector Megure. So he stopped off at a small restaurant and ordered some take out.

The visit with Megure had been just as fruitless as talking to the hospital staff because the police didn't know anything more than what Kudo had given them through Kaitou-Kid-impersonating-a-cop. (Heiji still had a hard time swallowing that.) All the legwork he'd been doing was turning up nothing and Heiji was getting frustrated. He'd consulted on cold cases back in Osaka before and he knew how slow it could be going back over the same material until the proverbial light bulb went off, but they weren't getting even a whiff of a direction to go in. No wonder Kudo wanted to draw out the Organization.

With a sigh, Heiji took his order and got on a bus to head back to Kudo's house.

"Oi, Kudo!" he called when he arrived. "Food's here, so c'mon 'n' eat!" No response. "'m I gonna have ta find ya 'n' stuff it down yer throat?"

"No need to get violent," Kudo grumbled next to him, making Heiji jump.

"Geez, when'd ya learn ta sneak like that?"

Kudo glared up at him. "When this," he gestured to his childish frame, "happened, it rather became a necessity."

"An' here I thought tha' thief o' yers may ha' taught ya somethin'."

A small foot landed hard in his shin.

"Ow! C'mon Kudo, get s'me humor!"

The diminutive detective said nothing, merely sighed and went into the kitchen. Heiji limped after him and quietly got lunch set up. The Osakan was glad that Kudo seemed a little more together than when he'd first found him, but something still seemed off, like he wasn't back up to a hundred percent yet. He hoped the small detective didn't start breaking again because Heiji wasn't sure what to do if he did.

So, try and lighten the mood.

Heiji nearly dropped his chopsticks. "Then why haven't ya?! We're always chasin' down crooks. So he's flashier 'an other thieves, he's still a criminal."

Kudo shook his head. "In that case, so am I."

"'Excuse me?"

"Hattori, think about it. Edogawa Conan is a fake identity and it wasn't created through Witness Protection. It's a complete forgery. That doesn't even get into the computer hacking I've had to do to access files or breaking and entering and trespass to get into a crime scene, to a large number of other offenses I've done." The smile widened with the irony.

"But what am I? A person who is a victim. Someone who's trying to right a wrong done to him. I chase after Them because of what was done to me. And I'm breaking the law to do it, but I'm trying to make sure that nobody gets hurt by either Them or me."

Kudo took another sip of his coffee. "And what is Kaitou Kid? He's the second Kid, most likely because the people who shoot at him killed the original. So he's someone who's trying to right a wrong done to him. He's chasing after something because of what happened to him. And he's breaking the law to do it, but he tries to ensure that nobody gets hurt by either the people after him or by himself."

The odd smile softened slightly as Kudo closed his tired eyes. "Really, he's no different than me. I have no right to arrest him. Catch him, yes; but not arrest him."

Heiji sat back, once again in awe of his best friend. It wasn't often, but once in a while Kudo would spout something out that just... humbled him. The very first time had been when they'd first met face to face and Kudo had said, "There are no wins or losses, no higher or lower; what there is, is one truth." Similarly, when he'd said, "A detective who corners someone with logic, but lets the culprit commit suicide is no different from a murderer". It was why (even if Heiji would never say it out loud) Kudo was the better detective. Not because of the ability to observe, deduce, and verify, but because of something, deep down, that was just... natural.

Sighing, Heiji sat back. "Well, the hosp'tal 'n' Megure came up blank. Didja find anythin' 'bout poss'ble plastic producers?"

Kudo shook his head. "No."

"Heh," the Osakan shrugged. "I suggest a break 'is afternoon. Ya need more sleep. I'm gonna call Kazuha 'n' give 'er an update on Nee-chan."

"Fine."

Haibara looked down at her feet as they swung back and forth from her perch at the foot of a hospital bed. She had only been gone for a week and so much had happened. When she had originally told Kudo that she would be leaving, she had thought she was leaving him in good hands. Ran, being his "nee-chan" would look out for him and make sure he took care of himself and Mitsuhiko would be glued to his side during investigation work, as good a deterrent as ever was to keep Kudo out of trouble. After all, with signs of the Organization behind the propane alkaloid mixture, it wasn't really all that surprising that Agasa had packed her up and made sure she was out of town for a while.

But if she was ever to leave, she always made sure that certain things were taken care of, Kudo being the first on her list. The shrunken sleuth had, in many ways she never admitted, saved her life, even saved her soul if she was feeling spiritual at all. Not only that, but he was her running experiment on the poison she had created and its rare and odd... side effect. Not that she ever showed it, but she had a lot of feeling where that not-boy was concerned. Not all of it she could label, but what she could identify were gratitude and admiration. Kudo was a very rare type of person.

So if she ever had to disappear for a while, she always ensured certain measures were in place. Usually, she didn't have to do much. Ran and the Shonen Tantei usually were the primary line of defense in keeping him relatively safe. If the Shonen Tantei were with him, Kudo was always extra careful because he had their safety to consider. If Ran was there, well, she was the only "adult" that ever truly kept an eye on him. And Kudo always tried to keep her safe, so he always kept an eye on her.

It had been a shock to discover that Ayumi and Genta had been poisoned. She'd been skeptical at first when Kudo came over with skin and blood samples for her to test. But Kudo was her one shot at taking down an organization of pure evil, the ones who had killed her sister, so she always humored whenever he started getting suspicious. Both she and Agasa had been horrified by what they had found and Agasa had turned around at that moment and asked her if she was interested in a convention that would be happening down in Kyoto. That was two weeks ago.

She had wanted to visit Genta and Ayumi, but by the time visitors would be allowed, she had been on her way to the old capital with her research notes in hand to ensure that they'd get better treatments. By the end of the convention, both she and Agasa were already starting to hear positive things from the doctors she'd found as they shadowed them. All her research was paying off. The latest victims were responding better. Something to ease her conscious.

The previous day, Friday, they had arrived home and Agasa had called the Mouri residence so that they could update Kudo on what had been happening. But there had been no answer. Calling around had received nothing, so Haibara had done some of her own investigating. It was very possible that everyone was out for the day, but something seemed off to her, especially since Kudo didn't answer over the Detective Badges.

So she had gone to Mitsuhiko's house in hopes that his parents would know where their polite son had gone with Edogawa-kun. Imagine her surprise when she was told that Mitsuhiko was hospitalized and had been for the past week.

Haibara had left the parents in a daze. One more of the supports for Kudo had been removed. That was dangerous. And she had been a fool to think of Mitsuhiko as safe. The poisonings were random. Granted, they were aimed at elementary school students, but there was no rhyme or reason to who was drugged or when. Realistically, there was no way to know that Kudo or Mitsuhiko wouldn't be poisoned, because they didn't know the method of poisoning. There had been the chance that whatever delivered the toxin could also deliver it to those she was leaving behind, and it had happened.

To Mitsuhiko.

Of all the Shonen Tantei, Ayumi showed the most level head, but when it came to knowledge of facts, Mitsuhiko was the best. There was no denying that Kudo was like an encyclopedia, but Mitsuhiko also had a large set of knowledge himself. His insatiable curiosity was no match for the mini-detective, but there was no denying that the skinny boy showed a great deal of promise, especially in the sciences. Haibara envied Mitsuhiko's wonder and amazement with each new experiment in class or fascinating fact that either she or Kudo would spout off.

Haibara wasn't blind. She saw the close bonds between people who had grown up together. Kudo and Ran being a primary example, as well as the Kansai couple. Even amongst the Shonen Tantei, there was a connection that the three actual kids shared. It was something that Haibara herself had been denied growing up in the Organization as she had. All she'd had was her sister, and she was gone. Looking at these examples, it made her wonder if she was capable of maintaining such friendships. She was hardly the open or friendly type and, as far as she was concerned, she wasn't all that desirable to know. But Kudo had once pointed to the three Shonen Tantei and they had, without question swarmed around her to try and make her feel better.

It made her wonder, if during this childhood she actually could have childhood friends. An interesting experiment.

But Mitsuhiko getting drugged merely showed her that this wasn't just an experiment. This wasn't about discovering what she could and couldn't do as a person once she was put into a "normal" situation. These children had lives as well. And something she was tainted with had rubbed off on them. And Mitsuhiko, of all people, hit her the worst. She wasn't blind to his crush on her. The skinny child had always had an interest in science, but once he learned she liked science as well, there was no denying the look of puppy-love that tended to appear on his face when he looked at her. She outwardly remained oblivious to it, as was her role, but that didn't stop a small soft spot for him emerging when there really shouldn't be one. It was the same with Ayumi, who had also found some way to worm herself into Haibara's closed heart.

"H...Ha...Haibara-san?"

Haibara looked up from her swinging feet to see Mitsuhiko blinking owlishly.

"Good morning," she replied in her usual monotone voice.

The skinny boy looked around. "G-goo-d..."

"Your throat is undoubtedly dry. Wait a moment." She hopped off the foot of the bed and pushed one of the chairs in the room to the bedside table. She climbed up gracefully and poured some ice water from a waiting pitcher into a small Styrofoam cup. Standing on the chair, she turned and offered the cup to Mitsuhiko.

He had a faint blush, but he looked more awake as he took the offered drink and scooted over to make room for her to sit.

Haibara hesitated. It might be viewed as encouraging a relationship and she wasn't sure she wanted to do that. Despite physical appearances, she wasten years older than him. Any interest she showed could be viewed as pedophilia. However, the same could be said for any man her true age that she might someday be attracted to. But it was a dilemma she could work on later. For now, she was a child and Mitsuhiko was a child. So she levered herself onto the bed and sat beside the freckled boy with some space between them.

Mitsuhiko took a long sip from his cup and gave a small sigh of contentment. "Good morning, Haibara-san. Did your vacation go well?"

Vacation. Of course, that would be how children viewed her disappearance, instead of hiding from danger.

"It was good," she told a half-truth. "Professor Agasa took me to a science convention down in Kyoto. It was very... informative."

"I am pleased." The skinny boy glanced around again. "Do you know where my parents are? They are usually here at this time."

"Your mother told me that your father couldn't get out of a meeting and your mother received a call about something in your apartment breaking down and she needed to oversee the repairs. She told me that she really didn't want to leave."

Mitsuhiko nodded. "Our washing machine has been most finicky lately. I am unsurprised." He was blushing again and fighting to keep it under control. "I am sorry that you had to come home to my... illness, Haibara-san."

There was a hesitation, in how he described his condition. "Do you know what happened to you?" she asked.

The freckled boy looked around again, and leaned to her ear. "I do not think I should mention the details. But Conan-kun thinks that this is not an illness, but a poisoning."

Haibara's heart stilled. "He told you that?" How could he? If he was to keep these children safe from Them, he shouldn't have said that it was poison, it was like broadcasting that he knew They existed.

Mitsuhiko leaned back. "I do not think Conan-kun meant to. When my..." he paused, hunting for a word.

"'Condition'," she supplied.

"Thank you. When my 'condition' started, Conan-kun was quite worried. Unfortunately, I do not remember much after a police officer started carrying me to the hospital. But I-"

"Ah! Mitsuhiko-kun! You're sharing a mystery without us!"

Both Haibara and Mitsuhiko blinked and looked over to Genta and Ayumi leaning through the door and grinning brightly.

The freckled boy smiled brightly. "Ayumi-chan! Genta-kun! You are well! I am so pleased to see you! Conan-kun, Haibara-san and I have been quite worried about your health! It is good to see you have recuperated so swiftly!"

Above the children, Genta's mother and Ayumi's mother smiled.

"We came here straight from school!" the small girl chirped, clambering up onto the bed.

"We even skipped out 'n lunch!" Genta agreed, looking at his mother in an attempt of puppy-eyes as he took the chair that Haibara had climbed off of.

"Okay, Genta-kun. Yoshida-san and I will get the four of you some lunch," Genta's mother smiled. "Remember to watch your language."

"Have fun, Ayumi-chan, don't strain yourself." The two mothers smiled at the children and closed the door to head to the cafeteria.

"So!" Genta rubbed his hands together in excitement. "What's this mystery?"

Haibara hesitated, but Mitsuhiko did not. For the skinny boy, there would never be secrets from his friends. Haibara rather envied his innocence. "The case of our poisonings."

"EH?" the other two children chorused.

"SHHHHH!" Mitsuhiko shushed.

"It would probably be best if we didn't let adults know what our discussion was about," Haibara added. "This is a somewhat... different sort of case."

"Haibara-san is correct, we must keep the utmost secrecy."

"Well?" Genta demanded in a whisper. "What the hell have we missed?"

Haibara let Mitsuhiko explain, interested in listening to how much he'd been able to absorb from Kudo in regards to what was going on, as well as knowing how he was investigating since she had spent all her time in front of a microscope.

The skinny boy explained, starting from discovering Genta was in ICU to taking Ayumi to the hospital (the small girl had been appalled at how she had treated Mitsuhiko and Conan and apologized repeatedly) to checking attendance at school. From there, with a list of who was out, Mitsuhiko had explained how he and Kudo had gone to each home looking for clues but coming up with nothing.

"Ai-chan," Ayumi asked, "where were you while Mitsuhiko-kun and Conan-kun were doing all this?"

"I was helping the Professor look into what sort of compound could cause the symptoms that you showed." No need to mention the blood sample that had turned their world upside down.

"Plus, she was away last week," Mitsuhiko added before continuing. "However, the case started to make more sense to Conan-kun when I was poisoned, for we discovered the method of delivering the poison."

"Like a murder weapon?" Genta asked, his face intense.

Mitsuhiko nodded, his earlier excitement in explaining the case dimming. "I had," his face flushed, "received a gift in my shoe locker."

"Oooooooohh!" Ayumi cheered. "Who was it from?"

"A very bad person," Mitsuhiko replied quietly. Looking up, he looked at his... their two friends. "Genta-kun, do you not remember the treasure box you apparently received?" The large boy nodded. "Ayumi-chan, you were given a Yaiba doll?"

"Oh yeah," the girl nodded.

"Both were encased in a thick plastic, were they not?"

"Uh-huh," both agreed.

"I'm pretty sure I cut myself on the damn stuff," Genta nodded. "It's so hard to pull apart and that kinda stuff's always slippin' in your hands."

Ayumi nodded her head fervently. "I did to!"

Haibara had already seen where this was going. That explained how such a dangerous toxin had been administered into a child's bloodstream, the children did it themselves without realizing it.

"The same occurred with me," Mitsuhiko nodded, a finger rubbing along a week-old cut on his hand. "Conan-kun started to act most peculiarly after I had cut myself. I have never seen him so panicked before."

Haibara nodded to herself. That would make sense. And Kudo in a panic ranged from being highly paranoid to doing anything to accomplish an immediate goal. Getting Mitsuhiko to a hospital would definitely fall in the later category.

"I am uncertain if I am correct, but I believe that Conan-kun knows who may be behind this, or at least has an idea."

"And he didn't share any of this with me!" Genta growled. "He was over at my place after I was released 'n' he didn't say anythin'? Damn him!"

"Edogawa-kun most likely needed a break," Haibara coolly stated. "With me out of town and the rest of you hospitalized, it would make sense for him to pull back."

"But this is Conan-kun!" Ayumi exclaimed. "He's always investigating things by himself!"

"I doubt he can investigate at the moment," Mitsuhiko said quietly, looking down again. "My mother told me yesterday that Ran-nee-san has also been hospitalized."

And suddenly, it made sense that she hadn't been able to reach Kudo at all.

"Hattori-niisan is looking after him while Mouri-ojiisan is looking after Ran-nee-san."

At least Hattori would keep Kudo out of trouble. Haibara let out a small sigh of relief.

"This is... scary," Ayumi mumbled, looking down at the sheets. "A lot of kids have been hurt by this, right? Why would anyone try and do this? What should we do?"

"We investigate the bastards, of course!" Genta replied.

"I agree," Mitsuhiko nodded. "I do not want to see any other classmates hurt by this. As detectives, is it not our responsibility to make sure that people are safe?"

Haibara smiled. Kudo really didn't realize how much influence he had on these children, how much they trailed right after him. He was even instilling his intensively strong moral fiber into them without him even realizing it.

"But where do we start?" Genta growled, frustrated. "How do we find who dropped off the plastic? Do we case the shoe lockers waitin' for another delivery?"

Haibara was going to have to take the lead now. In order to keep these children away from Them. Because if they found who the culprit was, they might get into even worse trouble. "I think we should try a different approach," she suggested. "Why don't we try and work with the professor and figure out what could be used to make the poison and where those ingredients could be obtained." She'd have to brief the professor that evening and set a few things up for when they came over, but it would keep them occupied and out of trouble. She would also have to call Hattori that evening to see how the mini detective was doing and share some information.

"An excellent idea, Haibara-san," Mitsuhiko glowed. "I will be released tomorrow. I have heard that some new treatments have sped my recovery greatly. I look forward to coming over."

"Yay!" both Genta and Mitsuhiko cried out.

Talk dissolved into less serious things: seeing what everyone else was up to, how school was with so many fewer students, etc. When Genta and Ayumi's parents returned, there was much cajoling and prying to ensure that they would be able to visit Haibara the following day, and even triple the effort when Mitsuhiko's mother arrived to ensure that he would be there as well.

As they continued to chatter animatedly, Haibara let herself drift with the flow of conversation, reflecting on how lucky she was that these children were safe and that her work with Agasa on creating treatments had contributed to Mitsuhiko recovering at a much faster pace. She cared a great deal about these children, but there were a lot of walls between her and them. Perhaps she should take down some of her barriers. Not all, but something to show how grateful she was that they were still there.

Quietly, she leaned over to the skinny, freckled boy, and whispered, "You don't have to call me 'Haibara-san'."

Mitsuhiko's face went scarlet and he looked at her with a large smile. "Thank you so much. I greatly appreciate the honor... Ai-chan."

And Ai felt a small part of her cold heart melt.

Two days later, Monday morning, Saiko was once again sitting on one of the beanbags in his office, looking at a student he was worried about. Edogawa Conan looked exhausted as he sat quietly in a bright red beanbag as he fought back a yawn. When Saiko had heard that one of Conan's guardians, Mouri Ran, had been put in the hospital, he'd been worried. This poor child had had his circle of friends disappear and now a family member as well. And what bothered the school psychologist the most was that Conan refused to talk about it to him. He had very rarely ever seen a child so close-mouthed. If it weren't for the fact that he knew Ran and her father from when they'd been in his school years ago, he'd suspect child abuse. But Conan showed none of those symptoms. He never had unexplained bruises and his interactions with both other faculty and students were all healthy. The little boy was quite the puzzle.

"How are you, Conan-kun?"

"Okay."

Silence. Not even an attempt at distraction with chatter like he'd done before. Saiko let out a small sigh. This boy needed to talk to him. And soon.

"Mitsuhiko will be back in school this week, I hear."

Conan nodded. "He went home yesterday and he'll probably be back in class Wednesday at the earliest, his parents say."

Saiko smiled.

"I've had the chance to talk to Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun since they came back to class. Some of the other students who've returned as well."

"Uh-huh."

"They say that you haven't come to see them since Ran-kun got sick."

Conan bit back a yawn. "Haven't had the chance. I've been at the hospital with Ran-nee-chan."

"Come now, Conan-kun. I've spoken with Mouri-san and he says that you haven't been there since the two of you took Ran-kun to the hospital. He says some Osakan detective has been looking after you."

Another yawn was swallowed.

"Has the gentleman looking after you been treating you properly?"

To that question, the tiny boy let out a low chuckle that sounded much older than the child in front of him. "Hattori-nii-chan? He's great! He's been telling me all about these cases he's been solving back in Osaka! But he always stops in the middle of a story to send me to bed! It's not fair! All his cases are so cool, just like Ojii-san's!"

At least this Osakan was attempting to distract Conan from his troubles. That was a good thing, but they needed to be discussed eventually. Preferably with the school psychologist.

"Conan-kun, I know you're not very comfortable talking to me..."

The look on the boy's face agreed whole-heartedly.

"But you do realize that you'll need to talk to someone soon? So many of your friends, and now your family, have become ill. You can't bottle this all up inside."

"Really, Saiko-sensei, I'm fine!" he chirped lightly. "Hattori-nii-chan, and Agasa-hakase, and Ojii-san have all been really great." The smile wavered briefly. "It's kinda sad, and not exactly easy, but I'm okay."

The school psychologist nodded, a small ache starting to form in his back. "Very well, Conan-kun. Tell me about some of these investigations that you're currently in?"

The child scowled horribly. "Nobody's letting me investigate anything right now."

Whoever made that decision was very wise. The last thing such a child needed right now would be an investigation with so much emotion that wasn't dealt with yet. Saiko gave a warm smile. "Nothing at all? Not even something as benign as how your classmates are getting sick? I believe I heard that your Ojii-san might be investigating that."

Conan shook his head. "No, money's too tight. He said he'll only take a job where he knows he'll get paid." The child suddenly smiled brightly. "Should I tell him to investigate? Maybe he can find something! Would you pay him to do that?"

Saiko gave a warm and gentle laugh. "No, Conan-kun, I doubt I could afford a private investigator like Mouri-san."

"Awwww," Conan pouted.

The school psychologist gave another warm chuckle. "Okay, Conan-kun. You should probably get back to class. Take good notes for Mitsuhiko-kun, won't you?"

To that, Conan gave a look that was amused and looked much older than a child should. "I think Haibara-san will be taking care of that."

Saiko raised an eyebrow. "Okay, here's your pass," he said, scribbling out the date and time before levering himself back up.

"Hey, Saiko-sensei? You said you'll bless lucky balls?"

"No, Conan-kun, I'll take them to a shrine near me for a blessing. Why?"

"I have a lucky soccer ball. I was wondering if I could you wouldn't mind..."

And thus, the child was back at trying to distract Saiko. The school psychologist decided to play along. "I wouldn't mind at all, Conan-kun. Why don't you bring it in and I should have it back to you within a week."

"Thanks!"

Pass in hand, the child left Saiko's office. With a tired sigh, the psychologist sank into his swivel chair. Conan was really worrying him. Most of their conversation had been attempted lies and misdirection, childish as some of them were. And the child was good at misdirection from his own problems. Saiko hadn't had to deal with a child who didn't deal with things to such a degree since Kudo Shinichi had crossed his doorstep. Multiple times.

With another sigh, Saiko reached over to his phone. He had some phone calls to make.

Let's make one thing perfectly clear: Heiji planned this. After watching his best friend Kudo moping in a bottomless pit of angst for five days - something that even the throws of a high-stakes investigation couldn't shake off,; after watching Nee-chan brood in worry and indecision for three days - all over something that _neither_ of them would talk about, well,; Heiji had had enough. And so, a full week after Kazuha came home from the hospital, Heiji was once gain celebrating that it was Tuesday. Why?

Ran was coming home. Hers had been the shortest stint in the hospital yet, less than a week.

It had taken a little bit of planning, of course. Getting the parents out of the house had been easy enough;, they were the ones bringing the girl home, and Kogoro, at least, was more than willing to spend time with his estranged wife. After that, it had been surprisingly simple to spirit away all the food in the kitchen - even simpler, Heiji realized, when he saw how little food was left. Five days of worry of two parents didn't leave much time for shopping, apparently. Laden down with the foodstuffs, Heiji carted them all over to Kudo's, using the excuse that he was getting tired of anything instant or take out. The pint sized detective had given him more than one suspicious look, but it was all "perfectly reasonable," as Heiji had explained when he tossed the milk and radishes and mushrooms in the fridge while munching on a rice cracker.

An hour later, once he knew Nee-chan was properly comfortable in her own room with the parents doting on her, he grabbed Kudo by the scruff of his neck and hauled him off his feet (once Heiji made sure that _he_ had the watch).

"Hattori?! What-?"

But Kudo picked it up quickly enough as soon as Heiji left the house and turned left down the street.

"Hattori! Stop! This isn't-"

"It's abs'lutely necessary," Heiji drawled, lugging the bespectacled boy over his shoulder. "Yer angst is gettin' on my nerves, an' so's hers. But go ahead; throw a tantrum in fronta everyone. Kick 'n' scream like a toddler."

Kudo growled but otherwise stayed silent.

As it turned out, Heiji's timing was perfect. He rang the doorbell politely before opening the door with Kudo's keys to see the Mouri parents going at it.

"You never think far enough ahead-"

"And you're too busy micromanaging-"

"It's _your_ home-"

"It's _your_ job-"

"Ya!" Heiji called over their voices. "There a problem?"

"You shut up!" Kogoro growled, "And get that freeloader out of my sight!"

Across his shoulder, Heiji heard a very impolite word, and the green-eyed teen could only breath a laugh before bending down to drop the boy detective. He kept a _firm_ grip on said detective's shoulder. "Conan-kun here's been too scared ta see Nee-chan in na hospital. I figured he'd have 'n easier time here," he threw a meaningful look to his best friend, "where it's a li'l' safer."

Eri, more demure than her husband, gave a soft smile. "That was very thoughtful of you. I'm sorry, though, that I can't serve any snacks." At this the wife gave a very dark glare to Kogoro. "It seems someone forgot to buy food."

"I already told you-" Kogoro started, but Heiji already had it covered.

"If ya want, I can look after Nee-chan and K-onan-kun here," he said, catching himself.

"I'm not leaving my daughter alone with a teenage _boy_!" Kogoro fumed.

Eri, behind him, rolled her eyes and grabbed his ear. "It's your own fault, 'dear,' so if you even think about complaining I'll be happy to remind you. Besides, you wouldn't even know what to buy. It's a wonder Ran has turned out as well as she has. Your influence..." Her lecture could be heard all the way out the door and down the stairs to the street as she pulled Kogoro along.

Heiji blinked after the couple, not having many memories of the two to recognize it as normal behavior. That didn't last long, however, as he realized that Kudo was no longer in his grip, and he twitched.

"Oi!" he called out, spying the diminutive detective making for the door. "Are ya that much ova coward?"

"Hattori, I'm not ready for this! I-" Kudo froze, his face a myriad of emotions and memories, before he looked away. "I'm not ready."

Heiji sighed through his nose, having sympathy, before shrugging his shoulders and lunging for him again. Kudo tried to back away, but his predilection for corners and having his back to a wall worked against him, and martial arts won out over soccer in a grabbing contest. He hoisted Kudo to his hip, rolling his eyes as the not-boy threw a boy's tantrum: squirming and whining and shouting all the while as Heiji made his way to his final destination.

She obviously heard them coming, but Heiji knocked anyway out of politeness before sliding open the door and walking into Nee-chan's room.

"Ya!" he said brightly. "Hate ta drop in an' run, but I _just_ 'membered this really important appointment back at Kudo's place. Call me if ya need me, but otherwise, have fun!"

He unceremoniously (if much more professionally than Kogoro) tossed the pint-sized Kudo onto Ran's bed and slid the door closed.

Then he waited. Only when he was certain that the talking was real and not a ploy to get him to move away from the door did he go back to Kudo's and fish out the food he'd been ferrying. He was getting hungry, after all.

Conan lay sprawled on the bed, mentally cursing Hattori six ways from Sunday, before finally getting his hands under himself and hoisting himself back into an upright position. Ran was openly staring at him, eyes wide and unblinking, a flush of something coloring her cheeks. She looked beautiful. She looked confused.

"... Are you okay?" Conan asked, grimacing as he added, "... Ran-nee-chan?"

Her pause was even longer.

"... Conan... -kun?"

Paranoia, a trait he'd developed into a finely honed skill, messaged his brain saying to beware even as his eyes widened slightly at the thought.

"Y... yes?"

Ran was still staring at him, unblinking, her brow furrowing as something was being put together behind her eyes. She nodded to herself slightly, her face becoming determined.

"There were two reasons," she said slowly, in carefully constructed and neutral tones. "The first needed a hypothesis: you working on a murder case, and getting hurt; the question revolving over whose name I would call out."

Conan's eyes doubled in size.

"The second was that you couldn't trust yourself; because even the slightest slip up could put you at risk, and while you would gladly put yourself on the line, you couldn't put me on the line." Ran looked him directly in the eyes. "Wasn't that right? Shinichi?"

... _Panic!_ Panic, panic, panic, panic _panic PANIC!_ She knew! She remembered! How on _earth_ did she remember?! That... It... What... Uaaagh! Shinichi's thoughts ran into all kinds of circles as sweat started to bead on his forehead and his breathing quickened. "Deny, deny, _deny_ ," that's what his paranoia center was screaming to his brain, while the guilt desk was shouting, "This is the consequence of your own selfishness! Now she's at risk!" while the blame office was growling, "Hattori, I'm going to _kill_ you!" all while an unnamed third party was whispering, "Just fess up and _admit_ it; you're running out of chances like this." There were too many opinions to take a vote, and nobody wanted a subcommittee.

He was starting to hyperventilate, a fact that dimly crossed the violent debate going on in his head, as he was unconsciously backing up from the confrontation he always knew he had to face but never wanted to go through. Someone was giving a filibuster on the merits of fainting, and his body was just bout to take a vote on that when long fingers traced their way to his chin and tilted his head up, filling his unused vision with Ran.

"Shinichi, please," she begged in a soft voice, her face ready to shatter. "Don't break my heart again."

And finally, there was silence on the floor.

"... 'm sorry," his voice said, startling Shinichi. One emotion finally, quietly, offered to take the front, and guilt swept across his childish features. "I'm sorry, Ran-neechan" he said in clearer tones. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry...Ran-neechan" He bent his head down, unable to look at her.

He was unaware of how vulnerable he looked, he always was, and stuck in the form of a child it was only more pronounced, and Ran was so moved she wanted to draw him into a hug and rock all the pain away. She wouldn't have dared when he was a teenager, and it was that realization and that kept her resolve from crumbling. Shinichi never wanted to be babied, soft as he was, and Ran had always respected that. Taking a deep breath, she drew his head up again to look into her eyes. "Is it really so terrible to let me help you?" she asked softly. She didn't dare speak any louder, her precious detective's temptation to deny everything was still warring behind his anguished eyes - he had still yet to _admit_ anything, and until he did Ran had to mind her footfalls.

"... I can't see you at risk, Ran-neechan" he said, his voice a whine that sounded exactly like Conan. She had a double take. "I can't lose you."

"what are you trying to say, why are you calling me neechan" Ran said softly, trying to understand this complex little boy.

"But why couldn't you take it off for me?" the words left Ran's mouth before she fully realized what she was doing. She leaned forward, eyeing him. "Why did you have to stay away from me?"

Ran leaned back from her intimately close distance to Shinichi and hand going up to her cheek.

" gomen ne Ran-neechan , it was shinichi niichan who told me to do that , I don't want to cheat but I can't see you hurting so lied to you , whatever I said was he told me to say. I 'm very very sorry. He told me that I should do whatever it takes you to calm otherwise you will hurt yourself badly . I was afraid you even ojisan. I lied to you .That's why I can't face you I know you missed Shinichi niisan very much and I think my presence hurt you very much, that's why you have those hallucination." Replied Conan with some tears in his eyes.

With shock Ran asked " you are saying you not shinichi, all that were hallucinations?". Yes nodded Conan.

" I 'm sorry Ran-neechan , I know because of my face you always doubt it that's why I think its better for you I should leave. I can't see you hurt anymore ,if my presence is hurting you I would definitely leave you, I would call my mother to take me back." Conan replied.

Will you leave me? Why? I mean ... I 'm sorry that you have traumatize yourself again because of my stupid hallucinations. I so -kun, please do not abandon me.

Do not worry Ran nee chan. Do not cry. He moved a little away and, as he suspected, saw her tears; He wiped them with his little fingers. I promise you I will not leave you forever if you don't want. Don't be sad, Shinichi niisan would not like anything to know that I made you sad, it was not my intention.

It's just ... I'm scared, you know. How I lost it to Shinichi could lose you, and I do not think I can stand to go through something like that again.

Don't worry I will not leave but please keep smiling.

" then Shinichi really came to visit?" asked Ran. " Yes, but then He took flight to Hokkaido because he got information that drug was created there" replied Conan.

Then he smiled;, a watery, grateful one that didn't often cross his features, either as a boy or as a teen. About all he could muster in reply was a throaty, "... Ah."

Ran replied with an evil smile. "I hope you don't think I'm going to suddenly throw my arms around you and kiss you again; a pedophile I am _not_."

Shinichi turned bright red, saucer eyed and slightly panicky, before he blinked and muttered under his breath, "So there _were_ some things she did remember."

When Heiji came back, he noted that the parents had yet to arrive;, that surprised him little. It didn't take much to picture them arguing at a checkout line or over a sale in the market, and it was probably for the best., Kudo and Nee-chan needed the time to sort through the scare they'd inadvertently put each other through.

Knocking before digging out the key he'd taken from Kudo and letting himself in, he walked through the office and up the stairs to the apartment, minding his step. He only wanted to check in on them;, if they were still talking he'd turn right around and go back to giving them privacy.

"Ah, Hattori, there you are."

Spinning around, the Osakan found the pint-sized Kudo walking down the hall with a tray in hand. "I was wondering when you were going to get back."

Heiji kept his voice down, both in respect and caution of Nee-chan. "How'd it go?" he asked. "Did th' two o' ya get a chance ta talk?"

"Ah," Kudo said in conversational tones. "More than you'd imagine." Padding past the kendo student, he called down the hall, "Ran, he finally came back!"

Heiji blinked. "Oi, Ku-Conan-kun, shouldn't ya be callin' Nee-chan 'Nee-chan'?"

"Its okay alone if you want but not in public," Ran said, coming in dressed in straight-legged jeans and an oversized sweater. "no Ran-neechan it was because sudden, I will always refer you to neechan."

Heiji blinked, his brain immediately jumping to only one conclusion.

Ran's smile was warm and welcoming. "I can hardly say I'm okay with the choices, but there's nothing to be done about it now, so it's best to just move on."

Heiji smiled right back, proud that Nee-chan was reacting so well. "Alright, then, let's get ta work."

"Ran-neechan can I help Heiji-niisan in this because it all was started from my school" asked Conan.

"okay but I will also help, I can't forgive that criminal who done this to these innocent kids." Replied Ran.

Conan, not about to let the recently hospitalized Ran do any work, collected the snacks Heiji had returned and the tea and served them in Mouri's office. Nee-chan wanted to be brought up to speed, and that took about an hour for the abridged edition to finally be finished.

"Is it really possible that they found out you were the one to discover how the poison was being administered?"

"Nothing is impossible," Conan replied. "they know the cop that took us to the hospital was, but anyone could have overheard the conversation we were having - even if they didn't suspect me specifically, it doesn't take much to learn I'm connected to your father, and with his 'reputation' the obvious choice would have been to take him out of the picture by making him obsess over his charges. It wouldn't have mattered which of us it was, so long as it was one of us. I'm willing to bet that's why it was left at our doorstep instead of my shoe locker." He turned to Heiji. "Did you learn anything?"

"I did some pokin'," the Detective of the West replied. "Since Nee-chan there haven' been any more cases. Since the culprit was averagin' a new case every three days, I'd say he's closin' up shop 'til the heat dies down."

Conan nodded. "Media attention has dropped down - wait a moment," he interrupted himself, reaching into a jacket pocket and pulling out a small marble. Rolling it around in his hand, Conan found what he was looking for and pressed the marble before placing it on the table. "There," he said.

"What is it?" Heiji asked, inspecting the device.

"Ah," Conan affirmed to their flabbergasted faces. "If he went to the bother of checking up on me, the bother of taking me home, the bother of bugging the house to see what he could do, it's only fair he listen when we're talking about the investigation. This was the only bug he put," he added when Heiji opened his mouth to protest, "and it was in the kitchen, where we did the most talking."

Heiji violently grabbed the marble-like device. "I hope ya get 'n ear infection!" he shouted.

Conan snorted. "If you're quite finished," he retorted. "Media attention has dropped down as well, partly because there are no new sick kids but also because Agasa says the doctors have gotten pretty tight lipped. With Mouri Kogoro out of the picture, the culprit likely thinks it's safe to quietly finish collecting data and forward it to his or her superiors."

"Just how high do you think this goes?" Ran asked.

"High enough," Heiji and Conan said simultaneously, dark undercurrents in their voices.

"The big question is who the distributor is," Heiji replied, still glaring at the marble transmitter. He was so going to dissect that little piece of... Anyway, back on topic. "Shoe lockers are pretty open access, all you need is a loose connection of the school."

"But you need time to access the lockers," Ran offered, frowning in thought. "There's always someone coming in and out of school, parents for meetings, deliveries, kids leaving early..."

Conan snapped up to attention a fraction of a second before Heiji did. "That's it!"

"What, what?" Ran said.

"Who in school knows all the students?" Conan said, honing in on Ran's question. "Who in school has free reign of the halls? Who in school can get the keys to the shoe lockers and not look suspicious doing it?"

"Administration," Heiji responded. "Teachers would only know sets of students, only admin would know the entire body, and if anyone asked about them poking around shoe lockers they could make the claim that they were looking for contraband."

"But that's still so many people..." Ran said, leaning forward. "The nurse, guidance, the principal and his team, that must be over a dozen suspects."

"But it's a starting point," Conan insisted. "Which is better than where we were."

Heiji stood up. "I'll hit the net," he said, "see 'f anyone in th' school 's any kind of medical backgroun' or medical connections."

"Ah," Conan replied. "It's time I started going back to school."

Nee-chan looked up in worry. "But that's not safe! They already tried to get to you-"

"The point was to distract Occhan," Conan said gently, reassuringly. "That, I can say, was successful."

"I don't like it..."

"Ran-neechan," Conan said, reaching over and grabbing the marble and turning it off, "I'm a great detective of East Kudo Shinichi's apprentice ."

"You're helpless!"

"No," Conan said, tapping his head. "I'm not helpless. My mind is my greatest weapon; and failing that, I have my shoes to kick them"

"B'sides," Heiji said, putting a hand under his chin. "He's got two great bodyguards."

As he sat in the chair across from his distributor, he gave a small half smile, because being an alcohol came with certain... expectations. Though Dealer himself didn't dip into it as much as the harder liquors, that didn't mean he wasn't perfectly capable, and as he stared at the person across from him, surrounded by motivational posters and kicking a duffle bag full of sports balls, Dealer was deciding if he needed to... terminate... this particular investment.

"You closed shop rather quickly," he started off genially.

"Of course," Dr. Bakekatsuwagawa, Saiko-sensei, as he preferred to be called, replied. "You got the numbers you wanted. I'm almost done collecting your data as well, though I must say, the data I'm collecting for myself could go on for months depending on how I milk this. Child psychology has always been such a fascinating field for me, and the opportunities you'd provide me if we decide to keep this contract will be innumerable."

Dealer hated scientists. They had no concept of reality. He asked, "And the cover story?"

"Will appear in about two weeks. All the students ate from the lunch cart, and all ate a particular fish from a particular boat, and it will be discovered it wasn't processed correctly. If that's too soon I can push it to three weeks."

"No, the sooner this operation is over the better," Dealer replied. "I was interested in how you would put this operation together; I needed to see how... creative, you could be in order to assess you as an asset, but there are certain things you have done that have cause for concern with my superiors."

"I followed the directions explicitly," Saiko-sensei replied, a tone of defense in his voice.

"Except for the part about not drawing attention," Dealer offered as counter point. "You failed to understand this operation is _discrete_."

"You don't know much about magic, then," Saiko-sensei responded, a smooth grin on his warm and friendly face. The incongruity of such an inviting face on man of such potential was always slightly disturbing, another thing in the doctor's favor when Dealer had selected him for this operation. "There are several tricks to sleight of hand, one of them is distraction. The public only knows that the children are getting sick, not how or why, and their instinctive rationale is something completely mundane, like a gas leak or bad food. The idea of someone deliberately poisoning children is dismissed out of hand as ridiculous. Although," and here his voice trailed off, and his face became thoughtful.

"What?" Dealer asked.

"One of the children, Edogawa Conan," he said. "He's the one with connections to that famous detective, Mouri Kogoro."

"You poisoned him right? Distracted the detective? There shouldn't be a problem, then," Dealer said. "Now you leave him alone for months."

Saiko-sensei shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not worried about the detective," he said genially, that warm smile still on his face. "I called after the daughter got sick, he's got his plate more than full, especially with the estranged wife in the picture however temporarily. But the boy is still a puzzle. I've been trying to press him, and I've never seen a child so closed-mouthed. He's inherently proud of Mouri-san, and he may decide to investigate under his own power."

"Let me get this straight," Dealer said, disbelief coloring his voice. "You're worried that a seven-year-old ankle-biter is investigating an experiment that my superiors constructed." Any potential this psychologist had vanished with that one completely insane thought.

The warm smile disappeared for a thoughtful frown. "It's not something I can put into words," the psychologist replied. "He hasn't graced my door before this started, so I didn't notice at first, but there is an air about him, an intelligence that he tries to hide but can't always manage. He reminds me of a repressed Kudo Shinichi, back when he was in elementary school." He laughed and waved a hand, "A name I'm sure you don't now, but I didn't get as far as I did when I was doing therapy without having instincts."

Dealer stood up and shrugged his shoulders, tired of listening to drivel. "Then kill him," he said simply. "You're proven how creative you are, so just take care of it."

Saiko-sensei blinked, swallowing hard. "I thought that was your department?" he asked slowly, his voice cracking.

Dealer leveled his best glare at the psychologist. "Why involve me when you much such a nice scapegoat? If you're crazy enough to think a child is a threat, then you're crazy enough to take care of him," he replied, before turning and leaving the school, black fedora in hand.

Wednesday and Thursday proved very busy for Conan, Ran, and Hattori, as the three started digging through the administration of Conan's elementary school. Looking up anyone with a medical background proved to be moot, since the school nurse, school psychologist, and guidance counselors had all taken medical classes during their college days (clinical psychology, after all, still counted as a medical class, despite Hattori's grunt of disapproval) and the three of them had been shocked to see that two secretaries were enrolled in night classes to become nurses and one of the vice principals was a volunteer EMT. So they were relegated to old-fashioned snooping in order to try and eliminate possibilities.

Wednesday had Hattori "dropping off" Conan really early in the morning, when only one secretary was there since Hattori, being from out of town, didn't know the schedule and had "messed up". So while the Osakan chatted with the secretary, Conan had free reign to quietly poke around and explore all of the secretaries' desks for any clues or information or anything out of place. That afternoon, Conan came to the office during the lunch block to "report a case of bullying" to the vice principal of his grade, and was allowed to patiently wait in his office while the office sent someone to collect him wandering the halls on his own version of "lunch duty". Still nothing.

The following day, Conan had dutifully done the same trick to check out the other vice principal's office, interested to see if this vice principal had any clues since this was the one who was a volunteer EMT. But this resulted in nothing, and Conan was able to "go home sick" as arranged with Ran, who like Hattori with the secretaries, chatted amiably with the school nurse while Conan rifled through things. Nothing yet again. Thursday afternoon had him, Ran, and Hattori contemplating various strategies to try and get Conan into the principal's office, but that seemed to be a bit more elusive a task.

Still, there was at least one more person that Shinichi could investigate for the week, and he decided to take care of it Friday. Ran had been expressing concerns with how often he'd visited administration the past few days, even if there were reasonable excuses to. Conan agreed; he was too far out in the open for his liking, but he wanted to get one more done before laying low for a while. With no new cases of poisonings, there was no doubt that the distributor, whoever he was, was also attempting to get out of the public eye and hide for a while, and Shinichi wanted to catch him before he slipped from their grasp.

So Friday, during the last class, Conan turned to Haibara and nodded. She nodded back and went back to their project. Mitsuhiko looked between the two and turned to Haibara to ask a question, but Conan was already talking to the teacher and putting on an appropriately "bothered" look.

"Sensei?"

"Hn? Yes, Conan-kun?"

"May I go see Saiko-sensei?"

The teacher looked down to him and smiled. From what the school shrink had mentioned during their talks, Shinichi knew that his teachers had been worried about him and if he had been handling the situation better, they never would have noticed. But for now, he could use their worry in his favor. He felt lousy doing it, but he didn't see much choice.

"Of course, Conan-kun. Here. There's no homework today and your friends can catch you up on anything you miss." She handed him a pass.

"Thank you," he replied politely and took the familiar route down to the guidance office. Now, when Hattori had given him a chance to go through the secretaries' desks, he had also noted who had meetings and when. Saiko-sensei had a PPT during this time, and Shinichi also knew that Saiko-sensei always left his door open in case a student needed a quiet place. So he handed his pass to the guidance secretary and quietly entered Saiko-sensei's office and shut the door behind him, though not all the way. No doubt the secretary would be calling into the meeting that Saiko-sensei had a student waiting for him, but for now, Shinichi had free reign. He doubted he'd find anything, but being able to do something was better than what the past month had been like.

Saiko smiled to himself as he strolled down the hall. The silent Edogawa Conan had finally appeared in his office asking to speak to him, instead of Saiko himself calling the reticent child down for a chat. Something must have happened to crack open the boy's silence and Saiko couldn't help but wonder what had occurred. Hopefully something interesting for the various case studies he was doing.

But the smile faded. Saiko turned the corner and looked through the windowed wall into the guidance department. Through those windows, he saw his door slowly swing open, as it always had a tendency to do whenever he didn't shut it completely, and he could see the bespectacled child looking through his desk and book shelves like a seasoned detective might. He was obviously doing a good job of keeping silent, since his secretary didn't seem to notice anything.

That just wouldn't do.

Saiko pulled out a handkerchief, ready to pull a middle-school prank. No fingerprints could be left behind.

Shinichi was unsurprised to see that Saiko-sensei's office had nothing out of the ordinary, like every other administrator he'd seen. Since some instinct had hijacked the remote of the constant TV and raised the volume up to blaring, there had been a constant drone along his awareness. He was missing something, he knew it with absolute certainty, but he had no clue as to what.

With a sigh, Shinichi started to unzip Saiko-sensei's duffle bag, curious to at least see which sports balls students wanted him to have blessed. Right on top of the balls was a leather-bound notebook that looked like it had seen a lot of wear and tear recently. Curiosity piquing and volume rising, Shinichi pulled out the notebook and flipped it open.

Inside looked to be notes. Lots and lots of notes. Case-study notes. On the children of Beika and how they handled the tragedy occurring to their classmates. With excited annotations and observations. Was Saiko-sensei going to publish something about the psychological effects of all this? That was just sick... And twisted enough that Saiko-sensei would probably be the type of person that the Organization would go after as a distributor, but not for recruitment. Then that meant that Saiko-sensei...

All thoughts were jarred as a piercing alarm cut through his brain and his thought processes. The high pitch shrill of a fire alarm engulfed the building and outside of Saiko-sensei's office, Shinichi could hear the sounds of an orderly fire drill as teachers and students started to flow outside.

Shinichi growled despite himself. He needed more than this to convince the police. He attacked the desk again with gusto, part of his mind already planning that he'd play the scared little kid if asked why he didn't evacuate like he was supposed to.

The thought had barely formulated, however, when something heavy collided with the back of his head and he pitched forward, darkness engulfing him.

"It just scares me, Hattori-kun," Nee-chan was saying as the two of them walked side by side to Conan's school. "When I think of Conan as... as... like that, I can't help but realize how vulnerable he is. That night when I... fell ill, and he was taken by... by..."

Heiji smiled softly with compassion. It took time and (on his part, at least) considerable effort to talk about Conan without talking about Conan so that eavesdroppers couldn't reference what was being said. She was better about it than he was, at first, and that was to her credit.

"Y'mean th' time Kudo took Conan-kun home?" he supplemented.

"Yes," she said grateful for the words. "Conan-kun, he was limp in... Shinichi's arms, he was so defenseless."

Heiji laughed good-naturedly as they crossed the street. "One thin' about that guy, Nee-chan," he replied, "izzat he ain't defenseless." He laughed again, but Ran's face persisted in worry. In more serious tones, he said, "Look, Nee-can, he doesn' want ya t' think he's defenseless; 's."

"I know, Hattori-kun, I do know; even before he... before this started I knew he didn't want to be thought of as defenseless. "

Y' can't think that way," Heiji interjected. "Once ya do, it just goes downhill from there, an' in the long run it only hinders'im, 'cause he doesn't think that way. It took me time, too."

The pair lapsed into a comfortable if heavy silence, crossing another street and turning the corner to Conan's school...

... to see a throng of children and adults milling about across the street.

"What's going on?" Ran asked, but Heiji was a few steps ahead of her, power walking to the nearest adult.

"Excuse me," he said in polite tones. "We're here t' pick up a student. Why's ev'ryone out here?"

The adult, a teacher, apparently, moved to answer before swiveling her head around. "Kirigawa-kun! Get back in line right now or I call your mother! Yes, sorry, the fire alarm was pulled about fifteen minutes ago. Hanamane-chan! Stop poking the people around you; and no, don't pretend that I don't see it!"

Heiji only asked one more question. "Did ya know there wuz going ta be a drill?"

"No, but we're not always - Ichouyama-kun and -chan!"

Right. Next source. Heiji took Ran by the hand and started leading her through the mob of waist high bodies.

"Hattori-kun, does this mean-?"

"Relax, Nee-chan," he said smoothly, even as worry started climbing up his own spine. "Conan says it himself, ya need ta verify the facts first before ya jump t' a conclusion." But, to be sure, in his knowledge fire drills were always given at certain times of the day, never during the lunch blocks, never before classes start, and certainly never fifteen minutes before the end of the school day. Nee-chan was a worrier, though, and better to wait until Conan was found before she started to have a heart attack. "Oi!" he called out, looking at a woman going up and down the teachers with a clipboard. "Y' got an attendance roster?"

The woman, petite and bony, with a long ponytail of chestnut hair, spun around. "I'm sorry?" she asked.

"Y' got 'n attendance roster?" Heiji replied.

"Have you seen Edogawa Conan-kun?" Ran interceded. "We're supposed to pick him up and he's not with his teacher."

The woman blinked, repeatedly, processing the question. "Hang on just a moment," she said in placating tones. "I need to finish gathering the attendance sheets." She disappeared quickly, faster than Heiji would have expected for a woman so small. Turning to Ran, he asked, "Which one's his teacher?"

Ran was ahead of him, however, powering through the throng of children. Heiji followed in her wake, quickly picking out the Detective Boys as they huddled together. Ran walked up to the teacher, and Heiji moved to the kids. "Oi," he said in light tones.

"Hattori-nii-chan!" Ayumi said brightly, garnering dark glares from Genta and Mitsuhiko. "We didn't know you were in Tokyo!"

"Maa, I wuz just visitin' Conan," he said genially, waving a hand. "I'm here with Nee-chan ta pick up Conan-kun. Ya know where he is?"

The blond, Haibara, answered: "He asked to see Saiko-sensei."

... Oh, shit...

"Hattori-kun!" Ran exclaimed as she ran up to her friend. "Sh-he went off to see Saiko-sensei! What if-"

"Hang on, Nee-chan," Heiji said quickly, glancing at the kids. They were already picking up on her nervous energy. "All we know izzat he wuzn' with sensei when th' drill went off. Let's go ask that bony woman again if she's finished with attendance."

"Excuse me," the bony woman interjected, right on cue. "I have all the attendance rosters now, who was it you were looking for?"

"Conan-kun," Ran said, her voice an octave higher in worry. "Edogawa Conan-kun."

For several painstaking moments, the woman, Heiji deduced a secretary, flipped through the attendance forms. Heiji and Ran watched in intense anticipation, the kids looking up as they, too, realized their friend was currently unaccounted for. Finally,

"Saiko-sensei was in a meeting," the secretary said apologetically, "it adjourned just before the fire alarm went off; he wasn't in his office to see if anyone was there."

"Nee-chan," Heiji said, spinning his head around to face her, "Now you can worry."

He shivered.

Then he blinked. His first thought was, My God, he's a pedophile! before his mind caught up enough to take a proper inventory of his current state and surroundings. Shinichi kept his head down and glanced through his bangs. He didn't have his glasses, his shoes and socks had been removed, as well as his jacket, bowtie, and shirt. That was why he'd shivered; the chill autumn air was making him cold. He was sitting in a chair for someone of his tiny size, with his feet just barely off the ground. His arms were tied to the arms of the chair.

Shinichi scowled. Saiko-sensei's making sure I'm uncomfortable. Bastard. Another glance and the small detective's eyes shot open. In each elbow was an IV. Why did he have a pair of IVs? With adrenaline suddenly pouring in his veins, Shinichi sat up with a start and looked around. His right arm's IV led to a pouch that, if he squinted, contained some sort of anti-coagulant if he was reading it right. His left arm's IV merely led to a bucket. What the hell?

"Ah, Conan-kun, so good to see you're awake."

Shinichi whirled his head around and fought back a wave of dizziness that followed as he looked at Saiko's warm smiling face. Act like a kid; act like a kid; act like a kid! "Saiko-sensei?" No need to fake the tremor in his voice. "What's going on?"

"You're helping me with an experiment," the school psychologist easily replied. Shinichi looked around. Outdoors, fall leaves littering a stone path to where he was sitting. Shrubs and trees obscuring a building in the distance that looked traditional - Shrine? Dojo? Sun starting to sink in the afternoon sky, shadows lengthening. He hadn't been unconscious for too long.

"An experiment?"

"Yes, Conan-kun," Saiko's warm brown eyes shined with delight. "I have a math problem for you, Conan-kun. I know you're very good with numbers. So pay attention, you can't take notes for this."

Shinichi continued to look around. Come on, someone be near by! But there wasn't anyone. And the binds on his wrists were tight and didn't allow any movement.

"Ah ah, Conan-kun. Stay still or you're going to make this problem more difficult." Saiko was jotting things down in his well-worn leather-bound notebook. "Now, are you listening?"

Play along... for now... Oh, how he wished he had his shoes. The bucket would be in his face by now if he had his shoes. And without his coat or bowtie, there was no way for whoever might have his glasses to trace him, because right now, Shinichi's only hope was if Haibara or Hattori or Ran or someone he knew had his glasses. Because he didn't see any immediate way out of this.

"Conan-kun," Saiko's voice was firm.

"Yes, sensei, I'm listening."

"Good." Saiko sat back, his smile still as warm and friendly as when they sat on beanbag chairs in his office. "Now, the average adult has fourteen to eighteen pints of blood."

"Okay..."

"Now when an adult loses six pints of blood, they usually fall unconscious. Are you with me, Conan-kun?"

"Saiko-sensei, do we have to use American Standards? Metrics is so much easier."

"No, Conan, use the American scales. You're a bright boy. You should be able to convert ounces, quarts, and gallons with liters without any problem."

"Yes, Saiko-sensei."

"Good. Now, you are a bit smaller than the average adult."

You think?

"So, how long will it be until you fall unconscious?"

... What?

Saiko stepped closer and unclipped the IV that was in Shinichi's left arm. They both watched as the clear tube filled with red and slowly, one drop of blood fell into the bucket with a near silent splat, then another, then another; perhaps two or three per second dripping into the bucket.

Shinichi's face slackened in shock as he looked to the school psychologist he'd known when he was in elementary school the first time round. He's making me watch myself bleed to death. Oh, my, God.

Shinichi scowled. He had time before he would pass out. Time for people to notice his disappearance. Time for help to arrive. For now, he was going to have to hold on. It took work to bite back a growl. There had to be a way out of this. Already, the tube on his left arm felt warm compared to the rest of him as his blood continued to ooze away. Ran. Hattori. I hope that damn fire drill that Saiko caused isn't slowing you down.

Heiji looked at his watch again. It had been almost fifteen minutes before they were finally let back into the building - a half hour since the alarm had gone off. That was a lot of time to take the pint-sized Conan somewhere, but rational thought was always in his favor, because he knew the culprit would go to familiar ground first, keeping the radius relatively small. Convincing Ran of this, however, was a different story entirely.

"Hattori-kun-"

"Nee-chan," he said in low tones, his gaze intense as he deliberately picked his words. "We're goin' ta get'im back. Ya need ta keep it together 'til then, otherwise there 's no point in his tellin' ya."

That had the desired effect, she looked as if she had just been slapped - which to a verbal extent was true - and while the fear didn't disappear, it was quickly channeled into a fighter's spirit, something Heiji knew very well. Good.

Once the firemen gave the all-clear, Heiji and Ran stormed into the school with not even a blink at the administration who tried to stop them. The kids were hot on their heels, and Heiji knew he could only keep them around for so long before they'd start getting in the way. This was too serious for them. Haibara - Chiisana-nee-chan seemed to sense this; she kept giving him glances as if to ask when she could pull them away, but he wanted absolute confirmation before he went to the cops. It was what Conan would do.

Bursting into the main office, Ran bee-lined to the principal's office while Heiji moved down a narrow hall into guidance. The bony secretary from before followed at his heels; she was the only one to seem to understand that Conan was missing and didn't simply decide to go home early - which apparently over a dozen kids had done with the alarm.

A quick glance of the secretarial desks didn't reveal anything helpful; though they were looking at everyone, both Conan and Heiji agreed the likelihood of it being a secretary was slim at best. The culprit needed to be someone with access to all the kids, and know what their favorite things were to send them such personalized poison packages. Heiji moved into the guidance counselor's offices, looking for things out of place and/or different. Teachers, he'd learned from many an investigation, were as varied and eclectic as the children they taught. This was verified by seeing one counselor's desk riddled with frog paraphernalia while another was covered with American Red Sox posters while a third was littered with live plants and posters of kittens. Still, nothing looked out of place or different, and Heiji's sensory perception was on high alert.

It wasn't until he hit the psychologist office, at the end of the hall and the one that Conan had decided to visit, that all wheels came to a stop in his minds. Bright red beanbag chairs, inspirational posters, framed degrees, a desk littered with paperwork, but what struck him as odd was the myriad of sports balls: soccer, football, baseball, basketball, and tennis balls, scattered across the floor. He'd seen messy offices in his time, but this didn't sit right, because it looked as if a bag had been emptied of its contents, and while his desk was filled with paperwork, it was in rough piles of one who was loosely organized. Then why were so many balls on the floor?

"Oi," he said in a low voice to the secretary.

"Yes?"

"Why's the shrink-sensei like sports?"

"He doesn't," she replied, "At least not the way you think. The kids all look up to him, both here and at the middle school, so they give him their lucky balls to have them blessed at a shrine."

"Does he always leave 'em hangin' 'round like this?"

"No, he usually keeps them in a duffle bag that he totes back and forth."

And Heiji finally realized what had happened, and he couldn't hold back a curse. "Shit, Conan!" Because the shrunken detective was small enough to fit in one... He turned fierce green eyes to the startled secretary. "Where is he? Where'd the shrink-sensei go?"

"I don't know," she said quickly. "I only take attendance of the students..."

His long legs propelled him back to the main office where Nee-chan was having an involved conversation with the principal. "Oi, the shrink, where 's he?" he demanded.

"I say!" the principal grunted in indignation. "First Ran-kun, now you, young man; have your teachers taught you nothing?"

"Later!" Heiji growled, unconsciously taking a kendo stance. "The shrink, didja see where he went afta the fire alarm w's pulled?"

"He went home like everyone else," the principal replied loftily.

"When?" Heiji pressed.

"Not long after the alarm. He'd finished for the day anyway, not that any of this is your busine-"

"Did he have a duffle bag with him?"

The principal blinked at the growl, finally realizing that this just might be something serious. "Of course he did, he always does-"

Heiji spun around and looked at Haibara. "Call the cops," he ordered before spinning back to the principal. "Where's he live?" he demanded.

"Honestly, what on earth-"

"He wuz in the duffle bag," he bit out. "Ku... Conan-kun wuz in the duffle bag! Y're shrink's the guy who's poisoning all the kids, now where th' hell does he live?" He glanced at his watch; half-hour since they'd entered the building, an hour since Conan had been kidnapped.

Shinichi shivered again. That was, of course, one of the signs of blood loss: feelings of extreme heat or cold, sweating, light-headedness. He had no sense of time and his focus was deteriorating. Trying to distract Saiko was difficult, as the psychologist stayed on the point of Conan's math problem quite diligently. That didn't stop Shinichi from trying to make the shrink slip up and reveal something, anything he could use in his favor. His brain was his only weapon at the moment, and he had to use

it.

"Ah!" he cried out childishly. "Ne, Saiko-sensei? Did you know what your name sounds like in English?"

"I'm afraid I don't speak English, Conan-kun. Now, you were just telling me-"

"Your name isn't Saiko, it's Psycho!" Shinichi chirped in childish tones. "Psycho means a crazy person! My mom had this old black and white movie by that name and-"

A hand firmly slapped him across the face.

"Conan-kun, you have a task in front of you. Stick to it like a good little boy."

Shinichi growled deep inside. The insult had garnered a reaction, like he'd wanted. But Saiko was staying strictly professional and not letting things get in his way. There was just no wedge against the air of friendly-but-firm professionalism that Saiko had built around himself.

Alright, time to change tactics. Shinichi decided it was time to give Saiko a little bit of the answer he wanted.

"Well, Psycho-sensei," the psychologist frowned, but did not react to the change in naming, "you see one drop weighs approximately one minum. I seem to be averaging two or three minum a second; we'll call it two and a half drops of blood a second, it would take twenty minums, or eight seconds to make a milliliter, and thirty of those, or two hundred forty seconds - four minutes - to lose one ounce of blood. There are sixteen ounces in a pint, so it would take about sixty four minutes, just over an hour to lose one pint of blood."

The school shrink stared at him in surprise. Shinichi plowed on.

"The bucket is basically a cone with the top cut off, and the area of a cone is one third of pi r squared times h, r being the radius and h the height. So using the area of the top of the bucket since it's wider, I can calculate the volume of the bucket by taking the volume of it's 'cone'. From there I'd subtract the smaller cone that's been cut off by using the same formula, but only using the bottom of the bucket as the base of the smaller. Granted, this takes some estimation of what the full height of the cone would be based on the slant of the bucket, and that requires some trigonometry, using the slant as the hypotenuse. But I am confident my approximations would be accurate. Would you like me to plug in some numbers?"

The pencil had long stopped moving in the notebook.

"I can even tell you how long I've been here. Using similar volume formulas with the approximate depth of the blood already in the bucket, I can merely work backwards on how much blood I've lost, and then determining how many minutes it would take to fill that volume." Shinichi offered a confident and smug smirk that he always had when facing down a murderer. "How's that, Psycho-sensei?"

The psychologist stared at him for a few more moments before the warm and friendly face reappeared. "Conan-kun, you astound me. Tell me, what are you?"

Ah, pleasant distractions. Maybe now he can make a mistake. Shinichi dropped back into childish tones with the ease of far too much practice. "Me? I'm just an elementary school student! What else could I be?"

Saiko scowled.

"I see I'm going to have to reassess a few things about you, Conan-kun. But I wonder how much time I'll have before you pass out? After all, part of the problem I posed to you was how long until you would pass out. Don't tell me you know how many pints of blood you actually have?"

Shinichi kept on grinning innocently. "How would a little kid know that, Psycho-sensei?"

He was slapped again.

"Conan-kun!" Ran dashed into the apartment after Hattori had strong-armed it, dashing in before the Osakan could grab her shoulder and stop her. It was a tiny one-room apartment; kotatsu taking up the most room while a closet was open to reveal bedding and pillows. One of the kitchenette's cabinet's was open to reveal bowls and flatware, but nothing else.

She spun around to her only source of reason. "Where is he? Where is he, Hattori-kun?" she pleaded.

"We'll find him, Nee-chan," he said in placating tones.

Oh, it was just so easy to panic! Ran took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to focus herself. She couldn't get the picture of Conan, tiny little Conan-kun, being carried off in a duffle bag; it was too horrible to imagine. She couldn't even fathom what else could be being done to him. Anxiety twisted her stomach; this was like when he was shot, sitting in the hospital waiting after she'd donated her blood; only it really was Shinichi, not just the fear that it was. It was too much to take in at once, she needed time to fathom everything she'd been told, and worrying out of her mind was not helping.

"Worry is a detective's worst nightmare," Shinichi had told her once. "Worry and what ifs." They had been walking home from school in high summer, snacking on ice cream cones. "The mind has to work through all possible scenarios to handle the case, but some of those scenarios get pretty gruesome pretty quick."

"Then how do you handle it?" she had asked, licking at the sprinkles of her cone.

"You have faith," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He took a big bite of his ice cream and hissed as it hit a sensitive spot in his gums. "Faith is a detective's best weapon: faith in your abilities, faith in the evidence, and faith in the friends you have."

"But Shinichi, you're always off solving cases on your own. It's so rare for me to be around."

"So?" Shinichi has queried. "So long as you believe in me, I know it'll all turn out alright; and even when it doesn't, I still know that you believe in me, and that makes me try harder next time."

Softly, under her breath, Ran whispered, "I believe in you, Shinichi; so Conan-kun going to be just fine." If he wasn't, she was going to kill him.

Re-centered, Ran opened her eyes to see Hattori rifling through papers. "Have you found anything?"

"No," Hattori growled, his own anxiety showing through. "Shrink-sensei has t' be smart, otherwise the Organization wouldn't o' used'im. That means if he kept any records they're either well hidden 'r on his person. I'm bettin' the latter, so 'e could take notes when talkin' to the parents 'r the doctors. He'd have ta be the one collectin' the data, that way he'd make a perfect scapegoat if somethin' went wrong." He growled, muttering to himself. "He pro'ly caught Conan snoopin' 'round. He's runnin' scared, but he's gotta tie up loose ends or the Organization'll kill him. Where'd he go if he wuz in a state like that?" Another growl. "Ya go ta what ya know, but where'd he go?"

He turned to Ran. "Ya had him in elementary school, yeah? What wuz he like?"

Shaking her head, she said, "Sorry, Saiko-sensei didn't interest me all that much at the time. Even in the middle school, when he helped out with sports, he was more interested in the team sports, basketball and baseball and soccer - Shinichi kept running into him when his teammates would ask him to get the balls."

Hattori blinked, straightening suddenly. "Tha' bony secretary said somethin' 'bout that."

"Yeah, he lives near a shrine or something, and as a favor to the kids he'd take them to be..."

Both of them widened their eyes simultaneously. "The shrine!"

"But where?"

Hattori launched to his feet and flipped open a window, sticking his head out. Ran closed her eyes and tried to picture where she was in the city and what temples or shrines would be near her.

"There's no view here," Hattori said, grabbing her wrist, "C'mon, the roof." He glanced at his watch again as he gave an initial yank before the two were racing back to the stairwell and up to the roof of the apartment complex. It was not as high as some of the high rises that surrounded them, but it afforded them an adequate view of the city, and soon Ran and Hattori were scanning opposite sides of the roofline, looking for traditional buildings or patches of trees.

Ran had a thought and pulled out her cell phone, opening up a map application and searching for shrines and temples in the area. It came up with over two-dozen locations, and she growled in frustration.

"Hattori-kun, there's too many temples to check them all!" she said, jogging up to him.

The Detective of the West saw the phone and grinned. "Nee-chan, ye're brilliant!" as he snatched the phone out of her hands.

"I am? What?"

"There 'uz an orthopedic cover t' th' chair in shrink-sensei's office," he said, tapping instructions into the phone. "He's past middle age, an' with back problems, he wouldn' be the type ta go outta his way just ta bless some kids' balls; he'd wanna short walk. Here!" He spun the phone around and Ran stared at the screen. "It's th' only one in walkin' distance!"

And lo, he was correct; Hattori had zoomed in the map function several times and restricted the radius of the search, and there were only three temples on the map; and only one was close to the apartment complex.

"C'mon!" Hattori shouted, and Ran was more than quick to follow as he tossed her phone back to her.

"Conan kun..."

Shinichi took short breaths as he leaned his head back. Technically, the best thing to do when feeling light headed was to put one's head between one's legs or to lay down with one's feet elevated. However, Shinichi was tied to his chair. Such luxuries weren't available to him. The bucket already had several inches of his blood looking almost like a black hole in the fading twilight sun. The moon was already starting to rise in the distance, not that he could see much in the shrouded corner of whatever place he was being kept at. Focus was dwindling fast as he lost more blood with each second. In a more pessimistic part of his brain, Shinichi wasn't sure that Ran and Hattori would make it in time, so he was going to have to come up with something on his own, but he'd tried every trick he could think of to make Saiko make a mistake. But the shrink remained true to whatever experiment he was aiming for.

"Conan-kun? Have you finished solving this math problem yet?"

"Come on, Psycho-sensei," he growled still gasping for air.

The psychologist smiled a warm smile. "Well then, how about telling me who you really are?"

"Edogawa Conan."

"I rather doubt that."

Shinichi didn't reply. Something had stolen his remote control again, and despite how hard focus was, everything heightened. Off in the distance he could hear his name being called. "... Conan-kun!... Conan-kun!" That was Ran. And another voice was calling out as well. One with a thick Osaka drawl. "C'mon, where 're ya?" And up along the roofline was a flash of white, a figure with a cape flowing behind him as he searched the grounds.

He could be humiliated about how much he sounded like a little kid later. At the moment, he didn't really care. With a deep breath and a muster of strength, "RAN-NEE-CHAN!"

Unsurprisingly, his vision swam from the sudden adrenal rush as his heart rate shot up but didn't have the blood pressure to do so, and also unsurprisingly, Saiko once more slapped him across the face. Darkness started to encroach itself along his eyesight and he nearly blacked out completely, but only his firm resolve to not pass out kept him conscious as his ears started ringing from the exertion.

Shinichi started gasping for air again, trying to have his senses settle down enough to start processing the information that they were giving him. Time was interminable. The ringing started to fade and he looked up. Shinichi could see down the stone path that lead to his current prison and sure enough, Ran and Hattori were racing towards him. Along the roofline, a white shadow flitted about, barely ever staying somewhere noticeable.

"Saiko-sensei! Give him back to me!" Ran shouted as she charged forward.

Something cold and narrow pressed itself to Shinichi's forehead. He strained to see out of the corner of his eye, and saw the black barrel of a gun. As if matters weren't complicated enough.

"Now, now, Ran-kun," the shrink said in a warm friendly voice. "Conan-kun's a most unusual child. And I don't just mean his intellect. At the moment, his blood has a fair bit of anti-coagulant mixed in. If I were to pull out either of these IVs, he'd bleed out in no time."

That was when Heiji really registered what he was seeing. Conan was bleeding. Not through a gunshot, or a stab wound, or anything like one would expect when one thought of the word "bleeding". No cuts or scrapes could be seen anywhere on the minimized detective's pale, pale skin. But by Conan's feet was a bucket that was filled with blood. A bucket that was being fed by an IV coming out of Conan's left arm. Now Heiji had seen a lot of people bleed and for many reasons over the years, especially when he started his detective work. It was all horrible and one of the many reasons why Heiji had such a strong sense of justice. People should never have to bleed like that. But this... Seeing that Conan was _watching_ himself bleed to death... It wasn't just horrible; it was horrifying. Heiji's stomach lurched and he gripped his sword more tightly.

Shinichi watched as both Hattori and Ran paled as they looked at the bucket of his blood that was by his feet.

"Ya better turn yerself in," Hattori growled. "This ain't gonna help yer case any."

"Oh tut, tut," Saiko replied, a warm smile on his face. "Hattori-kun, it may shock you to know that I'm not as stupid as you seem to think I am."

The Osakan said nothing, instead, taking up a kendo stance and pulling out his sword. Shinichi had to smile to himself. Ever since the dark skinned detective had arrived, he had never left his sword behind, even carrying it in its standard kendo case like any other practitioner of kendo might carry their bokken.

The psychologist shrugged. "Allow me to say a few things about the two of you. I am, after all, a trained observer." There was a faint tug on the IV in his left arm, the one that led to the bucket. "I hardly think you can refuse me the opportunity."

Hattori growled and Ran had her hands to her face as her gaze flittered from Shinichi to the bucket to Saiko's hold on his IV. Shinichi's ears started to ring again and his vision blurred as he continued to gasp in as much air as he could. It took force of will to stay with it, but he was unaware of what was going on around him while he tried to bring his body back under control. Another gasp of air and the ringing slowly started to fade. Shinichi grimaced as he opened his eyes to see what he had missed while his body betrayed him.

Saiko was saying, "Now, before either of you even attempt to claim that the police are on their way, I beg to differ. Ran-kun, I doubt the thought even crossed your mind. You probably were only thinking of dear Conan-kun. I've heard from those Shounen Tantei that you normally have to be told by your father or by Conan-kun here to call the authorities. No, you haven't thought about them at all." Saiko turned his warm smile to Hattori. "As for you, Hattori-kun, you're far too short-sighted. In the middle of an investigation you don't think of calling the police until you have the culprit in hand. You're known for your recklessness. And now, both of you are in a stalemate. Neither of you can do anything because I'll either pull out Conan-kun's IV making him bleed out, or I'll shoot him. Thus, the two of you have no other choice but to do as I say."

Shinichi glanced up at the white shadow and grimaced to himself. Well, he'd never get that blood back in anyway, and there needed to be a distraction for anything to get done.

"Ne?" he huffed, breathing still difficult. "Psycho-sensei? ... You clearly ... don't know ... either of them ... at all."

With both feet on the edge of the bucket, he shoved, startling everyone as it tipped over and spilled its crimson contents everywhere. With automatic revulsion, Saiko stepped back, letting go of Shinichi's IV and Hattori and Ran both rushed forward. But Shinichi couldn't see what happened because his vision was engulfed ,snipped both IVs, clipped them shut, and easily sliced off the binds on his wrists before lifting himself with careful grace and disappearing into the trees. There was a loud shot, but Shinichi couldn't control the head rush he was getting. He wasn't bleeding any more, but there was no denying that he'd lost a lot of blood. He didn't have the strength to stay conscious much more. But at least now he could pass out. _

Dealer put down his binoculars in surprise He was keeping an eye on Saiko to ensure that he didn't spill anything about their Organization. So far, so good. Wine was already planting evidence back at the shrink's apartment to ensure that the blame for the entire ordeal fell solely at the psychologist's feet. Once he was arrested, they'd keep an eye on his interrogations. If necessary, a convenient suicide would be arranged. He'd see if it was necessary first before taking any necessary steps.

Besides, this was proving to be an entertaining show, if nothing else.

Heiji and Ran raced up the temple's northern steps. When they reached the top, Heiji was certain they were at the right temple. It was old and worn down; there were very few people there, mostly elderly who had probably been coming here since the temple's heyday years ago. The main building was where any people would be gathered, but Heiji could only see, at best, two or three inside the main temple, including the priest. They wouldn't be of any help. Saiko would go to a more hidden alcove or building.

"Conan-kun!" Ran cried out, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Conan-kun!"

She had a good idea. Heiji was certain that if Conan could hear them, he would definitely try and get their attention somehow. So he raised his voice as well "C'mon! Where are ya?"

The priest inside the temple looked at them with a small scowl. No doubt they were interrupting whatever ceremony he was performing, so the old man merely stepped forward and shut the doors. Fine with Heiji. No more distractions.

From somewhere off to their left, Heiji and Ran heard a distinct shout. " _RAN-NEE-CHAN_!"

"C'mon," Heiji shouted, running towards Conan's voice. Ran didn't need to be told twice as they both surged forward. There was a rock garden and off by a wall, Heiji could see a batch of trees and shrubs near an indent that would be perfect for hiding; just over the bushes, they could see a man glancing around.

"Saiko-sensei! Give him back to me!" Ran shouted as she charged forward. Heiji swung his bokken case off his shoulder and pulled out his sword, tossing the case aside as he ran forward with the Nee-chan. They both skidded to a stop when Saiko pulled out an automatic and put it to Conan's forehead.

"Ya better turn yerself in," Heiji growled. "This ain't gonna help yer case any."

"Oh tut, tut," Saiko replied, a warm smile on his face. "Hattori-kun, it may shock you to know that I'm not as stupid as you seem to think I am."

The Osakan said nothing, instead, taking up a kendo stance and pulling out his sword. Justice may need a sharp edge that night.

The psychologist shrugged. "Allow me to say a few things about the two of you. I am, after all, a trained observer." There was a faint tug on the IV in Conan's left arm, the one that led to the bucket. "I hardly think you can refuse me the opportunity."

Heiji growled and Ran had her hands to her face as her gaze flittered from Shinichi to the bucket to Saiko's hold on his IV.

" _Stop it_ ," Ran cried out. "He's just a _child_! Stop it!"

"What th' hell ya playin' at," Heiji shouted. "Yer makin' him _watch_ himself _die_! Ye're supposed ta be a doc. This ain't no way fer ya to be-"

Saiko cocked his gun. "I am a child psychologist. I've had to deal with children for a very long time. But let me tell you, children don't get the research they need in order to best treat them. I am merely doing an experiment to advance my field."

"By making him watch himself _bleed_ to death?" Ran shouted. "That's not advancing your field, that's _torture_!"

"Exactly." Saiko gave a warm gentle smile. "The scientists of Germany who preformed human experimentation on the victims of the concentration camps were taken in by the American scientific community so that everyone could benefit from the results of that research. I was granted an opportunity at my elementary school to study how tragedies can affect a child's mental health. How could I not do a case study? And now, little Conan-kun here offered himself for another type of experiment."

Heiji scowled fiercely, the grip on his sword getting tighter yet again.

""Ne? ... Psycho-sensei?" Conan looked up at the crazy shrink with the confident smug smirk he used when facing down even the most terrifying of criminals. "You _clearly_ ... don't know ... _either_ of them ... at all." And with a firm kick, the bucket was knocked over, spilling its contents everywhere.

Heiji was determined to have a _long_ talk with Conan about idiocy. Spilling his own bucket of blood! Was the shrunken sleuth _insane_? But it gave Heiji the chance he needed. He ran forward while Ran went after Conan. Heiji's sword flashed as he brought it down, diverting Saiko who was aiming for Conan.

The gun fired as Heiji landed the back of his sword, breaking Saiko's hand and things got _painfully_ chaotic for a few moments. Conan had disappeared .Ran was missing as well, no doubt following after. Saiko was holding his gun with his other hand, seeing as how Heiji had rather sufficiently _broken_ the first one. (This pleased Heiji more than he'd rather admit.) But Heiji himself toppled over because his body was on _fire_. The gun's discharge hadn't hit Conan, but it _had_ gone right through his hip.

"Ow" didn't even _begin_ to cover it as he hit the ground and rolled, hands instinctively dropping his sword to clutch at the wound. Pain was radiating from his hip outward, down his leg and up his torso; every twitch his body involuntarily made set his nerves on fire. Kendo mental training be damned, he grunted in the pain - it _hurt_ , damn it. Cursing, he tried to angle himself to _somewhere_ where it wouldn't keep shooting fire up his nervous system.

As a fan of samurai movies, he'd more than once seen someone take a serious blow and just shrug it off. "Just a scratch," the samurai would say with rich, masculine bravado, and all the viewer would see is a trickle of sweat and a circle of blood around the fabric. He decided it was a load of bull. His jeans were soaked in blood, to say nothing of his hands and his shirt, and blood was still spurting out of him, the wound burning with the fire of agony.

"Shit," he growled. He reached out blindly, and wrapped a bloody hand around his sword. He realized belatedly that in his rolling and writhing on the soft earth he'd rolled into Conan's spilled bucket of blood. The urge to throw up warred valiantly with an urge to pass out.

Growling, anger at everything that was happening pumped adrenaline in his veins, and he surged to his knees, pain threatening to overwhelm him, trying to balance on his good leg and lunged forward, intent on catching Saiko before the shrink could escape. It appeared as though he'd never seen someone shot, Heiji observed, because he was staring in fascination as Heiji struggled to work through the continual explosion of pain. But the psychologist proved to be slippery. Perhaps returning to his senses, the shrink backpedaled, but not before Heiji swung his sword again, slicing part of Saiko's leg. It wasn't debilitating, but it would be enough to slow him down and leave a trail of blood for people to follow. The shrink ran/limped away while Heiji tried once more to get to his feet. Even if he had to _crawl_ after the psychologist, he would _not_ let him get away.

"Conan-kun? Conan-kun?" That was the Ran's voice.

" _Conan-kun!_ "

Softie.

There was Ran, frantically looking around, her winter coat flapping open as she darted first in one direction, and then another, head swiveling this way and that.

She had enough intelligence to check to see if anyone was following her before jogging over. Hopping over the root, she squinted her eyes to the darkness of the shadows before recognizing Takagi.

"... Ran..." he whispered, his voice sounding more childlike than when he ever tried to play a child.

"Sh..." words failed her.

"... 's... okay. He's... okay."

At last, the girlfriend released her grip, and

"He needs to keep warm."

Ran nodded, shrugging off her coat and wrapping it gently around Conan.

"... Where's... Hattori-kun..."

"He went after Saiko-sensei," Ran whispered, holding her beau close. "I don't know what happened."

"Where were he hit?" Ran asked slowly, kneeling down. God, there was so much blood; he was going to be sick!

"Hip," Ran replied, face laced with pain and anger. " 'm no good ta Conan like this..."

Saiko limped into the temple, his hands still shaking. His mind was still working though, and he wasn't sure that would have ever happened after events fell apart so disastrously. Oh, he knew as soon as Dealer had approached him with this _fascinating_ business venture that he was getting... involved... in things he heretofore never thought of. He had purchased the black-market gun for that exact reason - to be prepared and to protect himself.

That never prepared a person for actually shooting someone.

Accident though it was, watching the Osakan fall to the ground as blood spurted out of his hip pushed buttons he didn't like; and _why_ didn't his hands stop shaking? Even the broken one wouldn't stay still, and it was sending shockwaves of pain up his arm.

"Saiko-kun, what was that noise just now?"

To his own surprise, Saiko saw his hand with the gun rise to aim at the elderly man. The priest's eyes doubled in size in a comedic shock take that didn't sit right in the psychologist's head.

"Things are getting a little messy outside, sir," Saiko said politely, giving an award-winning smile. He watched as, even with the gun pointed at his chest, the monk involuntarily relaxed under the gaze before tensing up again. It was, perhaps, Saiko's greatest weapon. "I recommend hiding."

The monk quickly disappeared, down the hall and into a private room. Good, Saiko knew where to go for a hostage if necessary. Now, forward thinking: what happened after he got out of this? His time in therapy had given him quite a wealth of resources. There was the politician who confessed while raging in his office that he'd killed his wife; the idol singer who didn't want her long-since-over drug habit ever discovered, the banker who confessed that he'd cheated on his wife multiple times. Opportunity was something that knocked on his door several times over the years, and now it was time to call in his favors.

The banker first, to get money; the idol next, to have a place to hide; and the politician last, to get him out of the country. Oh, and a call to the engineer, for the new identity. Then... America first, perhaps England; yes, that sounded good. That should keep him hidden from not only the disaster of his life, but also from the Organization. He couldn't look to them; they were no doubt taking steps to set him up as the fall guy.

Plan decided on, Saiko could focus on the more immediate goals: getting out of here with a broken arm. He was fortunate that none of all that ghastly blood landed on him; if he worked fast enough he could check into a hospital and have his arm set before the cops started checking them.

"Yo, shrink-sensei!"

The voice stopped all train of thought in the psychologist's head. He spun around, looking for the Western Detective.

"Saiko-sensei, how could you do this?"

That was from his right, but swiveling his head he didn't see any sign of Ran-kun.

"Psycho-sensei," little Conan-kun's voice whispered, almost right in his ear, and that _freaked_ the older man, making him jump and spin around, but still no one was there.

"Where are you?" he demanded.

"Ya hadda go 'n' shoot me, didn' cha?" Left.

"Why did you do that to Conan-kun?" Above.

"There's so much blood on your hands." Behind.

"D' ya really think ya c'n get outta this?" Right.

"I'll never forgive you!" Behind again.

"Do you really hate children that much, sensei?" Above again.

Saiko was almost completely turned around now, trying to locate where the voice was - because he _knew_ there was no way Edogawa could be talking, and likely there was no way Hattori could be up and walking around; but _damn_ if he didn't sound _just_ like them.

" Then, "Na, sensei, may I ask you a question?"

. "What makes you think you know anything about anybody?"

Stumbling, Saiko fumbled through the smoke, still coughing as his eyes watered against the irritants in the gases assaulting him. Unable to see clearly, he banged into a wall, jarring his broken arm and gasping as pain shrieked up his arm and right to the pain center of his brain. Disoriented, he spun around and tried to back up away from the smoke. He thought he saw a shadow of white, and he ducked back further. Finally getting his wits about him, he recognized he was in the right hallway, and so he spun around and plowed down the hall.

Slinging open the door, he found the elderly monk cowering in a corner under a blanket. Snorting at the cowardice, he ripped the blanket off, causing the old man to whine, and dug his good hand under the older man's arm, yanking him up.

"Sorry, old friend," he said softly, shocked at how calm his voice was. "This isn't how I expected to repay you for all the help you gave me at school."

"There is still time, Saiko-kun," the old priest sniveled. "I won't say a word, I promise!" He actually shriveled away from the man he'd watched grow up.

"Unfortunately, that won't help, old man," Saiko said, still the picture of calm even though listening to Kid's impersonation of Conan's voice had disturbed him greatly. "I've left a little too much evidence. One thing you can do, however," he added, "is keep me safe from a certain madman."

Tugging and pulling, Saiko went back out into the hall, angling the old priest in front of him.

"Lost your voice now, haven't you?" he shouted. "Hate violence right? What if I told you I could snap his neck if I wanted to?" The priest jolted at the comment, his struggles increasing but, old as Saiko was, the priest was older, and infinitely feebler.

"Well, you've certainly got my attention," Hattori responded, his voice seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere.

"I find it interesting that you only show respect to people who hold power over other people's lives," Saiko said slowly, trying to edge for the door. It was damn difficult with the old priest struggling as he was; the psychologist was tempted to just dump him in favor of running - but he knew as soon as he did Kid would take him down. Why the _hell_ had an international thief gotten involved in this?

"It's quite the opposite, really," Hattori replied, a dry chuckle of confidence in his voice. "I only respect people who respect life."

"Then you should take no issue with me," Saiko said evenly, his nerves finally calming down. Talking he could do, he was more than amply trained to talk. "I respect life more than the people you steal from."

"Oh? Yet you're willing to snap an old man's neck?"

Saiko snorted. "Like you haven't had your back against a wall. Look at my work, Hattori, I'm a clinical psychologist - my research can only benefit people."

"Oh, yes, there's that," the voice replied with an undercurrent of sarcasm. There was still no sign of him anywhere; perfectly content, it seemed, to hide in the shadows. "But then," he added in much more serious tones, "you fail to realize the amount of hurting you do to your experiments. That,"

There was a sudden hissing sound and the crackle and pop of... fireworks? This late in the year? His ears rung from the sudden loud noise.

"is something,"

Sirens could be heard in the distance, only in Saiko's ringing ears.

"I can never forgive."

At last, Saiko's mind went blank.

"What-"

"I think I've stolen enough time," he said lightly, adjusting his contentiously large top hat. "Enjoy your life in prison."

And, with a puff of smoke, he was gone.

Ran shivered under the black cloak to hide under. While made of a heavy material, it couldn't stop the wind from slicing through. She angled her back to the chill breeze and did her best to keep Conan covered by both her coat and herself. Her detective had passed out again. There had been no sounds other than Conan's labored breathing; no sign of Hattori, Kid, or Saiko. So Ran stayed hidden, holding her little detective close to her.

"... Ran..."

"Sh...Conan-kun!". In some ways, that was very easy, and in others, it was extremely difficult. "Are you alright?" Dumb question.

"... tired... hard to focus..." He managed a deep controlled breath before returning to gasps. "... Hattori?"

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything since I heard sirens."

Conan gave a small nod, his worn face dark with worry. "Hattori... he was... the first one... that got close..." His bleary eyes looked up at her, breath still coming out in gasps. "... Sorry... you... should have been... first..."

Emotions too varied to name welled up in Ran.

The small form of a boy lifted his head, eyes squinting. "Sirens... are coming..."

Ran gave a watery smile. "You always had better hearing than me, Conan-kun."

A tiny laugh. "... Heh... Not worth... a damn... compared to... your karate..."

She hugged him tighter. "Mou..." she grumbled through unshed tears. "You little dumb mystery-otaku. You scared the wits out of me."

"... Sorry... Ran... Didn't... mean to..."

"I know you didn't." Ran held back a sob as she ran a hand through his hair. "This is merely an adjustment. Adjustments take some time and have some rumples along the way."

"... Some... rumple... this is..." Shinichi mumbled through gasps of breath.

".. How are you... Hattori?"

"I 'll live, Conan. But Saiko shot me in the hip while I was getting you to safety."

Ran gasped as she felt the not-child in her arms tense.

" The tension eased but didn't disappear. "And Saiko-sensei?" Ran asked, unconsciously stroking Shinichi's back in an attempt of reassurance. "Shouldn't we make sure he's-"

"Oh he won't be going anywhere," Heiji smiled broadly. "I stole all the time we needed, but I can't exactly return something like that. So instead, I gave something else back to the police. One gift-wrapped... person."

Shinichi gave a small nod before he fell limp again. Ran hugged him close.

"He'll be fine," Ran replied, smiling at the small form in her arms. "hattori-kun. I really can't thank you enough. I don't know how I'll ever repay you for this."

From the entrance of the temple, a voice was starting to yell out a long string of curses that seemed determined to scorch the very earth.

Ran nodded, She waited a moment, holding her precious, precious little detective close to her. She owed him that much at least.

"Ran-kun!"

She turned her head. That sounded like Inspector Megure. But how did he know they were at the shrine? Never mind, one thing at a time. While Hattori had said that Saiko was under wraps, she wasn't going to just go about like everything was fine. Not with Conan still gasping for air, not until she was with Megure or she had seen that Saiko was no longer a threat. So, getting her freezing legs under her and standing, she carefully left the enclosed roots of the sacred tree and started to make a stealthy approach to the collected officers. Her coat fell slightly, slipping off one of Shinichi's bare shoulders; she shifted his tiny amount of weight to free an arm to fix the situation and covered him more thoroughly with her coat. Meanwhile, she saw the Inspector's trench coat, bright in the moonlight, as the heavyset man scanned the area, the taller form of Takagi behind him.

Ran snuck closer, hiding behind shrubs and walls of the temple in order to avoid notice by wherever Saiko had hopefully been detained.

Megure scowled harshly. "I beg your pardon, I got a call from the Osakan detective Hattori Heiji about a child who had apparently been spirited away to this location. Now if you'll excuse me, as head of the Major Crimes Unit, this makes it _my_ jurisdiction."

"Inspector," Megure growled with a flat stare, "I have to conduct a search, now would you and your Task Force please leave."

"Inspectors!" she called out, stepping around the corner and into the moonlight. "Help me!" she shivered in the cold air. "hattori has Saiko-sensei tied up around here somewhere! Get him out of here and call an ambulance!"

"Ran-kun?" Megure asked, a raised eyebrow. He and Takagi rushed forward. "Are you hurt?"

She rushed between the two Inspectors and shifted her coat, pulling it back to reveal the panting and pale not-child in her arms. "Saiko-sensei had him _bleeding into a bucket_!"

Jaws all around dropped. Megure's eyebrows disappeared under his hat, Task Force and MCU officers crowded around to see the tiny form of Conan.

"Conan-kun!" Megure shouted, leaning forward.

"Find that son of a bitch _now_!"

Takagi, ahead of them, already had his phone out and was calling for an ambulance in a panicked voice.

"Where's Hattori-kun?" Ran asked, feeling Conan, Shinichi, stir in her arms. " he was shot in the hip-"

"Saiko-sensei..." Shinichi breathed, his head lolling back. Both Inspectors looked down. "... he was poisoning... the kids... I got... too close... and he..." but his eyes closed again.

"Please!" Ran begged, looking at both of the Inspector. "Do something!"

The two men gave appraising glares at each other. It faded under Ran's pleading look to them both, and they gave the great sigh of the defeated. Megure turned to his assistant.

Takagi responded to his unspoken question. "And ambulance will be here in six minutes," he said.

"And Hattori-kun?" Ran asked.

"'Hattori-kun'?". "That Osakan detective you mentioned, Inspector Megure?"

Men! " he was shot in the hip," Ran repeated, frustrated. "Is he alright?"

Ran very nearly fainted at the sight of it. Hattori was _covered_ in blood, chest to knees, and he kept _writhing_ , unable to stay still as pain seemed to keep shooting though his body. Shiratori was with him, kneeling down gingerly with a hand on the Osakan's shoulder.

"Calm down," he was saying in his traditional monotone.

"Not 'til I know how he is!" Hattori was shouting. He moved to get up again and fell back, grunting in pain. " _Shit_ this hurts."

"Hattori-kun!" Ran called out, jogging up to him with the limp Shinichi in her arms.

"Nee-chan!" he cried back, working himself to his elbows. "How'z he?"

"He keeps going in and out," she said, kneeling down by Conan's best friend. "Look at you! There's so much blood!"

"Ain't all mine," Hattori replied, morbid grin on his face as a trickle of sweat ran down his forehead. "Somehow got mixed up 'n K-Conan'-kun's blood."

"... Hattori..." Everyone froze when Conan opened his eyes a sliver again. His unfocused blue gaze fell in the Detective of the West's direction. "... 'm sorry..."

Then,

" _Ahou!_ " Anyone who knew the Osakan rolled his or her eyes. Even the rookie gave a snort of amusement. "When ye're conscious enough I'm gonna yell yer ears off fer this stunt! Knockin' over yer own bucket o' blood fer a distraction!"

A new set of sirens could be heard, and at last she could relax, because now her dear Conan could get help. Hattori sensed it as well, because he finally allowed himself to be pushed to the ground, muttering, "Kazuha's gonna _kill_ me..."

The overriding priority for the police and the Task Force both was to get the two injured civilians taken care of. Megure, more familiar with those involved acted as spokesman

The EMT that looked at Conan quickly and methodically removed the IV lines in both of his elbows, taping them both shut while asking questions. Ran answered as best she could, but Hattori seemed to be of better use; as he explained that Conan was likely filled with anti-coagulants and blood thinners, and that he'd been losing blood slowly for around two hours. Shinichi opened his eyes again, and offered an approximation of how much blood he'd lost before drifting off again, and even the seasoned EMT couldn't hold back a widening of the eyes and a frown of disapproval.

The men in charge of Hattori did not have so pliable a charge; he kept _twitching_ , every movement causing him pain, and the idea of an anesthetic was rejected whole sale. "Ahou!" he'd shouted, "Not 'til ya take care o' th' kid!"

"Sir, we're doing that now," the EMT had said.

"Then where's th' blood bags?" Hattori demanded. "He needs - ow! Stop pokin' that! - He needs _pints_ o' blood!"

Ran tried to step in, "I have the same blood type as Conan-kun, you can-"

"Conan'd kill me if I letcha do that!" Hattori replied, spinning his angry green eyes around to her. "Ya jus' got outta th' hospital fer bein' poisoned over this case!"

A younger EMT muttered under her breath, "Can't we just knock him out?"

Things eventually settled down, and Ran was just about to get into the ambulance with her precious charge when, out of the corner of her eye, assistants dragging Saiko-sensei in multi-colored rope and Sato keeping a firm grip on Saiko's handcuffs with a furious eye.

Hattori, insomuch as he was able, tried to lung out of his stretcher. "That's him! That's th' guy!"

Ran, more mobile than he, could only see red as she stormed out of the ambulance, her focus narrowing as she took a deep breath. She heard Megure's cries but only distantly; the only thing she could comprehend was that it was _this man_ who had _hurt_ her Conan, and Hattori, and Kazuha, and Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun and Mitsuhiko-kun, and all the children, and who knew whom else. _This man_ had worked with an organization of people who dealt in death and harm. _This man_ had poisoned the students of Conan's elementary school, and was guilty (if by association if nothing else) for poisoning Kazuha. _This man_ had _shot_ Hattori, and _this man_ had made Conan watch himself bleed. _This man_ had a lot coming to him. And Ran was _just_ the person to deliver what was coming.

"Ran-kun!" Megure called.

"Ran-chan," Sato said, getting in front of the coming karate champion. "Calm down, it wouldn't be a good idea to-"

Ran swiftly ducked around the female officer and every Task Force member between her and the deranged psychologist with the grace of her discipline in martial arts. When she reached the shrink, Saiko was pale and unable to defend himself with his hands cuffed behind him and wrapped in scarves and colorful ribbons.

 _This man_ had earned some retribution.

"Haaaaaah!" It was a perfect spin kick, with the full force aiming right for the shrink's pale, frozen face.

It was only one voice that made the red film of her vision clear.

" _Ran!_ "

The foot stopped millimeters from the nose. Saiko fell backward with a muffled cry of pain from his arm. Ran's face went blank as she lowered her kick. She turned slowly, looking through all the officers that she had sidestepped to the ambulance where one small child was gasping for breath in the arms of an EMT, slumped forward, sweat streaming down his face, and looking her in the eye.

"Conan-kun," she whispered. The faraway child nodded and let the EMT push him back to the stretcher.

Ran turned and looked down at the school psychologist. Saiko looked up at her, and offered a friendly smile. "Go ahead, Ran-kun," he said quietly. "You're better at nurturing children than karate any day of the week."

"Keep up that psycho-babble, and I'll finish Ran-chan's kick," Sato retorted, roughly pulling up the shrink to standing again.

Ran ignored them and rushed back to the ambulance. Conan was far more important.

Hospital.

Shinichi let out a long sigh of relief. He eased himself into sitting up and looked around. He was in a double room, but the other bed was empty. Ran, Kogoro and Eri were all asleep in chairs huddled around his bed and a quick glance out the window showed it was early morning. They had most likely stayed all night with him. Another IV was in his left arm, the clear tubing leading up to a bag of blood that was replenishing his highly dwindled supply. Necessary as it was, Shinichi had rather had his fill of IVs.

Still, other people were in the room. Shinichi took a deep breath and faded away, letting Conan come forward.

Conan reached for his glasses, which were on the stand by his bed, and was almost glad to have them back on again. As Clark Kent a disguise as it was, it was reassuring to have their familiar weight on his nose and ears. There were details he wanted to know about now that he was a bit more... with it.

"Ran-nee-chan?" he asked quietly. He didn't want Kogoro or Eri to wake up and with Ran as worried as she was, he hoped she would be a light sleeper.

"Ran-nee-chan?" he called again, a little louder.

She stirred. "Conan-kun?" she mumbled. Then, all at once, she was awake and sitting by his bed, leaning her head against his. "Conan-kun?" she said.

Conan smiled and dropped his mask. "I'm fine, Ran-neechan," he replied before slipping Conan back on again.

Ran leaned back with a huge smile, tears welling in her eyes. "Thank goodness."

Looking around again, Conan tried to put the awkward feelings that were stirring in him aside. "Ahm, Ran-nee-chan, what-"

"Conan-kun," she replied firmly, a wide grin on her face. "You can call me 'Ran' if you want."

The compact detective nodded towards her parents. "It will take some getting used to." And explaining. Kogoro had been told about the lack of suffix, but he heartily disapproved, and it would take time to introduce it to the other people who knew them well. Ran nodded.

"So," Conan chirped. "What did I miss?"

Chuckling, Ran ran a hand affectionately through his head. Conan couldn't hold back a grin.

"Well, after you passed out in the ambulance on the way here, I called my dad to let him know I wouldn't be cooking dinner for him."

"He must have been so pleased."

"Be nice." Ran looked over at her father with gentle eyes. "He really was wonderful last night. He and mom didn't like me donating blood to you, neither did Hattori-kun, but they were all supporting."

Conan frowned. "You were just let out of the hospital."

"And you have a rare blood type and you needed it immediately. The doctors have been monitoring you all night. The poison seems to be completely gone from my system and you've been doing fine."

"And Heiji-niican?"

To that, Ran laughed. "He was absolutely horrible to the doctors. He'll be released today, but Kazuha has a lot to say to him. She's with him now."

"... And the hospital's still standing?"

They both chuckled.

Conan glanced around and lowered his voice. "Psycho-sensei?"

"Is in custody," Ran replied just as quietly. "Apparently the police found all sorts of evidence in his apartment that he was creating and distributing the poison here in Beika to record the psychological effects. Which is interesting, given that Hattori-kun and I didn't find anything of the sort."

"Them," Conan whispered.

Ran nodded solemnly. "Hattori-kun is very angry that they've escaped again. But frankly, I'm just glad that Saiko-sensei won't harm anyone again."

"If he lives to trial it might come out," Conan replied, "but that depends on how much he knows about Them."

Her eyes widened. "what You mean they might..."

Conan nodded. "I know there is a organization in Hokkaido which was behind this. Shinichi –niisan told me about it."

The door opened and both looked over as Eri shook herself awake from the sudden noise. Kogoro snored on. The doctor was still looking at a clipboard and they waited expectantly.

"Ah, Conan-kun," the doctor finally looked up. "It's good to see you awake. I understand you've been through quite the ordeal."

No, sensei, I just watched my life's blood slowly drain from me into a bucket at my feet and had no way of stopping it. That wasn't much of an ordeal; really, it wasn't. But he said instead, "It all okay because Ran-nee-chan came to rescue me!"

Ran gave him a flat look that he understood at a glance. Right, tone down the sugar.

"In any case," the doctor turned to Eri, "you are his guardian?" Conan grinned. As always, the kid was to be ignored, presumably because they wouldn't understand.

Eri aimed a glare at her husband. "Yes," she replied, not bothering to explain the complexities of their family. Ran was there and she was the important one to hear all of this.

The doctor nodded. "Aside from the blood loss and bruising on his face, he's in excellent health-"

If you ignore my shrunken state.

"-and will be able to go home tomorrow. We want to keep him here for observation to make sure that there are no other complications from something that Conan-kun wasn't aware of during his time under... that person's... care." The doctor flipped through the clipboard again. "Now for the average adult, plasma is restored after just a few days, but restoring the red blood cells can take anywhere from twenty to twenty-nine days. Children usually aren't so depleted of blood and the pint that your daughter provided will help. But basically, she'll be feeling like a blood donor. I would strongly recommend having her rest for at least two weeks, if only because we're not sure what else happened to her during his captivity."

"Thank you, doctor," Eri bowed.

Ran turned to her mother. "Mom? Why don't you and Dad go home and clean up. I'll stay with Conan-kun and go home after you two come back."

Eri frowned. "Why don't we reverse that, sweetie. You were running around a lot yesterday searching for Conan-kun. Why don't you get a shower and freshen up? I'll keep an eye on him."

Ran glanced at Conan. "It's okay, Ran-nee-chan! I promise I'll be good for your mom!" She hesitated a moment more, before nodding. "But before you go," he said quietly, fighting the blush that was heating his cheeks, "can I have a hug?"

Ran's face reddened against her will, making her look absolutely beautiful, before smiling and leaning down. "Of course, Conan-kun. You can have a hug whenever you want."

Later that day, Conan was reading a mystery novel that Ran had brought with her. She was sitting on his bed, one arm around his shoulders the other texting Sonoko. Eri and Kogoro had headed out to work, Kogoro still grumbling about bills that needed to be paid and how even more were now coming in. Conan could care less about the old man's grumbling, because being able to spend time with Ran as himself was absolutely heavenly.

Naturally, their time together got interrupted.

The door opened and three people came in. Hattori was wheeled in looking defiant and pissed. Wheeling him in was his father Hattori Heizo, looking displeased and firm. And following the two in was Kazuha, who had a bizarre mix on her face of being irritated and respectful of the elder Hattori and irritated and worried at the younger Hattori.

"Oh," Ran said, shutting her phone. "Hello. I heard you were being released today, Hattori-kun. How are you feeling?"

The dark-skinned detective just growled.

It was his father that spoke. "Mouri-kun, if you don't mind, I have a few questions about how my son was injured yesterday."

Both Kazuha and Hattori's father glared at him. Hattori just scowled and crossed his arms.

Ran felt distinctly uncomfortable and Conan was glad that as a child, he was being ignored behind his book. "Of course," she replied.

"Now I understand that my son was investigating the illness of children here in Beika?"

Ran nodded. "Shinichi gave him a call. He'd dropped by a few weeks ago and when he heard about Conan-kun's classmates getting sick, he got suspicious. But he couldn't stay so he called Hattori-kun. Unfortunately, Hattori-kun couldn't pull away until he knew that Kazuha-chan was doing well."

Conan looked up to Ran, and the complete truth she had told on the spot. Hattori was also staring at her.

The elder Hattori looked down to his son. "And you chose not to tell anyone because?"

Hattori scowled. "We weren' sure," he retorted. "No proof. We had ta hunt down 'n independent source ta even see what sort o' compound could b' used ta fit all the symptoms the kids were showin'. Didn't know anythin' solid 'til Nee-chan got sick. Still didn' have any proof 'n' before we could confirm anythin', the kid here got grabbed."

The elder Hattori gave a clearly disapproving glare. Conan frowned. It was something that Hattori didn't really talk about much. Hattori couldn't stand a lot of the "traditional" views that his parents had strictly held him to and he rebelled in his own respectful manner. He loved his parents, and valued their opinions, but there were many things he didn't agree with. So he clashed, especially with his father.

"And neither you, nor Mouri-kun, saw fit to call the police?" The old man was radiating displeasure and Kazuha, who had remained respectfully quiet, looked torn between wanting to tear the man down for berating his son and turning to Hattori and demanding the same thing.

So Conan decided to diffuse the situation. He hid behind Ran's arm and peeked out from behind it. "Hattori-ojii-san?" Four sets of eyes swiveled to him. "You're sounding like Psycho-sensei."

"I... What?"

"You sound like Psycho-sensei," Conan replied, still behind Ran's arm. "I remember. I remember Psycho-sensei making fun of Hattori-nii-chan and Ran-nee-chan because they didn't call the police. But he was wrong. He didn't know them at all." He looked over to Hattori with a little-boy smile. "Hattori-nii-chan didn't know where I was till he and Ran-nee-chan found me at the temple. He couldn't call because Psycho-sensei had seen him and Psycho-sensei had a gun to my head. He called the police once he was alone, right? He called for Megure-keibu."

He turned his little-boy smile up to Ran, and put a little bit of Shinichi into the expression. "And Ran-nee-chan couldn't call the police at all. She had me and she couldn't make any noise that would make Psycho-sensei find us." Ran gave a warm smile and moved the arm he was hiding behind to wrap around him.

Conan turned to Hattori's father. "So please don't be mad at them? They saved my life. I don't want them in trouble because of that."

Hattori's father said nothing, merely sighed. Score one for the cute kid. "I'll go try and hurry your paperwork, Heiji."

When the door shut behind him, Hattori let out a sigh of relief. "I'll probably still catch hell fer this when I get home," he grumbled.

Kazuha, however, had a lot to say on the subject.

"Ahou!" she yelled, her eyes filling with tears. "Didja have any idea how terrified I wuz when we were called last night ta be told that ya were 'n the hospital?!"

Hattori's eyes flashed. "Ahou!" he yelled back. "Ya think I had a choice 'n gettin' shot?"

Conan rolled his eyes. Those two were getting along as swimmingly as ever.

"Now, now," Ran tried to intervene.

Kazuha wasn't listening. Tears were streaming down her eyes as she continued to yell at the Osakan detective. "I thought y' understood! M' parents told me how scared ya were when I wuz in the hospital, so why didja go 'n' scare me like that?" And she fell forward, wrapping her arms around Hattori, balling her eyes out as all her worry and fright throughout the night purged itself from her system.

Hattori grimaced from the extra weight on his hip, but otherwise looked utterly shocked. He awkwardly put his arms around his childhood friend, clearly not having a clue what to do.

Embarrassed that they were seeing something so private, Conan and Ran looked away. When the storm was finally weathered, Ran stood up. "Hey, Kazuha-chan? It's getting on lunchtime. Why don't we go get something and let the children talk?"

Kazuha sniffed but grin. "Good idea." She playfully thunked the back of Hattori's head. "This kid has a lot of growin' up ta do. Maybe Conan-kun can teach him a thin' 'r two. Now what were ya sayin' 'bout the fantasy-Conan 'ppearin'?"

Ran chuckled, winked at the two of them, and guided Kazuha down to the cafeteria.

Hattori turned with a wicked grin. "How long 've I been tellin' ya to tell her? Don't it make life easier?"

Conan chose not to dignify that with a response. "Hattori. Are you really okay?"

"Seriously, Kudo, 'm fine. 'll be fine. 'n' I still need ta yell yer ear off."

"Heh. Consider me deaf."

Flat stare.

Flat stare returned.

Both laughed and spoke more freely, enjoying each other's company until Ran came back with Kazuha.

Conan flipped a page in his book. Sonoko had come and practically dragged Ran away to "get her away from dreary hospitals" and he was spending the afternoon curled around his book. The pint of blood Ran had donated was now in his system and his blood count had improved; Conan had to admit that he felt a lot less anemic. Of course, since Sonoko had come to give Ran some fresh air, the minimized detective was fairly certain he would be getting another set of visitors soon. He was hoping to at least finish the chapter before they arrived.

"Conan-kun!"

Placing his bookmark, he looked up and smiled. "Hey everyone!"

The Shonen Tantei piled into his room, clamoring for good seats. Genta took the chair that both Ran and Kazuha had used over the course of the day, Mitsuhiko and Haibara perched themselves at the foot of his bed, and Ayumi in a fit of boldness, had crawled up to sit by Conan's side like Ran had done earlier. Conan gave her more room.

Genta was the first to be heard over the loud chatter of several kids talking at once. "Conan-kun! We've had enough of hospitals, why the hell are ya in one?"

That, naturally, received a flat stare. "Hey, hey, it's not exactly like I wanted to end up here."

Ayumi leaned into his personal space, her face covered in worry. "Are you okay? No one's told us what happened after you disappeared yesterday!"

"Yeah!" Genta shouted. "Didja chase the criminal? Why didn't you let us come along?"

Conan gave them a grin. This seemed like a good time for some practice.

"Well, you're all detectives, aren't you? Why don't you tell me what happened?"

The three real children scowled at him briefly before actively partaking in the challenge. Haibara gave a small grin.

"Well," Ayumi started, "I remember Hattori-nii-chan shouting about you being taken away in a duffle bag."

Conan nodded, giving an encouraging smile. "Whose duffle bag was it?"

"Saiko-sensei's," Mitsuhiko responded, then frowned. "I found talking to him about things... helpful. He was the culprit, was he not?"

Both Haibara and Conan gave a solemn nod. "Unfortunately," Conan agreed. "I may not have liked talking to him, but he was always nice and welcoming. But we accept that he wasn't what he told us he was, and go from there." There was a small twinge in his feelings about that, since he was doing the same thing to them, but he pushed that aside.

"Well," Genta said after a moment of silence, "I'd say he hit ya a bit. What with that bruise on your face."

Conan raised a hand to where Saiko had slapped him during Conan's attempt to pester the shrink into making a mistake for escape. He had forgotten about the bruise. He didn't really feel it when talking or eating. It must look bad. He shrugged. "That was part of it. But mostly, he slapped me because I was trying to annoy him."

Haibara gave an amused smile. "And we all know how good you can be at irritating people."

Flat stare.

"But there was more?" Ayumi replied, appalled.

Conan nodded. "Can you figure out what?" He gave an internal grin, wondering which of them would start going in the right direction first.

All three stared intently at him, as if trying to see any other injuries that would account for him to be in the hospital.

"My mom's always threatening to hang me by my ankles," Genta said suddenly. "Did that bastard do that to you?"

"No," Conan stated.

"I remember a movie my sister saw where a man got hit in the back, did that happen?" Ayumi asked, trying to peer behind him.

"No."

More silence as they studied him. "Did he..." Mitsuhiko started hesitantly. "Saiko-sensei was a doctor, correct? And he made that drug we all eventually suffered from, so he has medical knowledge. Did he do something... medical to you?"

"Right direction," Conan praised. He lifted the sleeves of his yukata to reveal the bruised veins where Saiko had placed the IVs.

Haibara frowned. "Did he give you that poison?"

"No," Conan replied seriously. "Only one IV led to a bag."

"But wait a minute," Genta frowned, leaning forward to look at one of the elbows. "Ya mean that he had more than one IV in you? That one o' these marks isn't from the hospital? I know I had a lot of tubes in me when I woke up."

Ayumi nodded. "Me too. Isn't one of those bruises from the hospital?"

Conan shook his head. "Nope, the hospital put their IV here," he pulled open his yukata to reveal the small bruise by his neck. "They didn't want to use my elbows because Psycho-sensei did."

"So then, what did he pump ya full of?" Genta asked, a bewildered look on his face.

"Anti-coagulants."

Haibara hissed in a breath.

"Ai-san?"

She defined dryly, "Anti-coagulants are blood thinners. They are usually used to make blood flow more easily and to prevent blockages. They are normally used for people with heart problems or to prevent strokes and blood clots."

"So Saiko-sensei wished to make Conan-kun's blood move more easily through his veins?" Mitsuhiko raised an eyebrow. "If anti-coagulants are beneficial, why would a malevolent man like Saiko-sensei use them on Conan-kun?"

Conan looked between the three, curious to see who would work it out first. Haibara, given how she was studying him, had probably figured it out. Mitsuhiko had done well in using logic to look at a medical point of view, but then, while Genta and Ayumi were in the hospital, the skinny boy had been by Conan's side for an investigation most unlike the ones they usually did.

It was Ayumi who looked to Conan first. "You said only one IV went to a bag. Where did the other one go?"

"To a bucket."

"EEEEHHHH?" all three shouted.

"What the hell for?" Genta demanded.

Mitsuhiko breathed in sharply. "Once your blood was thinned, did Saiko-sensei let you bleed so freely into that bucket?"

Conan nodded. "Exactly."

"EWWWW!" chorused all three.

"Aww," Genta moaned. "My mom gives blood regularly. She's always so tired and can't do nothin' for a few days after she donates. Is that the same with you, Conan-kun?"

The minimized detective snorted. "More or less, though I gave a bit more than a blood donor would. Ran-nee-chan gave me blood like she did when I was shot. I won't be practicing soccer for a few weeks, but I'll be fine for normal stuff. As long as I don't push it."

"We'll see that you don't," Haibara said with her monotone voice.

There was silence for a moment before Ayumi leaned into Conan's personal space again. " What happened after that?"

Well, Conan mused, better to talk the concept of me almost dying. They did well with their deductions. They're improving.

And Conan was very proud of them.

Few days in the newspaper there was heading a whole organization was arrested by the Tokyo and Osakan police join force who were involve in creating the drugs and testing on kids.

Reading this Conan sighed and thought they had no connection and how could I find them. I was stupid to think they could perform this act so openly.

GOLDEN CASE WEEK

Ran! Quickly the store will soon close!

Ran, Sonoko and Conan went for a shopping day.

While some were having a wonderful day, little Conan was bored a lot. Initially, he wanted to stay home to read or go to Professor Agasa a scientist, neighbor of Shinichi. But Ran, did not want to leave him alone. So he was obliged to follow the two high school girls everywhere. And to wait behind the curtains as they try their clothes. Always between them. Because not once Conan could see anything.

Yes yes, a few more seconds I'm done soon. Ran was saying in the fitting room. Said Sonoko? Conan is near you?

Sonoko looked around and saw the little boy on a bench two meters from the sleeping cabins.

Yeah he's here. He is sleeping on the bench.

You can ask him to come and see me please.

Why ? Do you want to show him what? Cannot I come?

Sonoko, no thanks, it's Conan that I ask.

Ok ok that's fine. Said Sonoko unhappy and looking for Conan.

Conan? Conan? She called, stooping to be at the height of her ears.

She called him but the boy did not answer.

CONAN! She shouted

Conan came out of his dream with a start. He did not know what was happening.

Conan? Ran asks you in front of the fitting room.

Me ?! He asked stupefied.

Yes, and swish!

Conan arrived in front of the fitting room

Ran-neechan, did you call me?

Yes, I want to show you the dress I tried

But why me ? Why not Sono ...

It was at this moment that Ran went out dressed in her dress. She was beautiful. It was deep red, knee deep, with short sleeves, a pronounced décolleté and the bottom was reminiscent of a tulip that opened. The whole set was decorated with stones and glitter that shone like stars. Conan was mouthful and turned red.

What do you say ? its fine Conan?

Conan again on the shock did not answer. Sonoko entered the cabin.

Conan Kun? Ran continued, gesturing at him in front of his frozen face.

Whouah! Ran you are beautiful! This dress suits you perfectly.

Thank you Sonoko.

Yes its suits you so well.

At these words, the two young women turned to the little boy.

You are so beautiful Ran-neechan. If I had grown up again I will ask you for marriage!

again? Conan, you are still too small to get married. Ran laughed. But you are so sweet. It makes me happy that you like it.

Noticing, the huge mistake he made Conan alias Shinichi laughed nervously while putting his arm behind his head.

\- It's decided I take it. Said the schoolgirl.

Sonoko approached Ran with a smile.

\- And can I know, Ran, for that opportunity you will wear it?

\- Euh, I do not know…. For a ceremony ... or a wedding.

\- OR to go to a restaurant face to face with a man ... like ... .Shinichi!

With these words, Ran had become all red and it was not the only one. Conan, who was right next door and had heard everything, became embarrassed.

\- Come on tell me it's the truth. Imagine, you and Shinichi with a beautiful dark blue suit, eaten alone while musicians play melodies of love around your table. It would be so romantic.

Ran does not know what to answer. She was frozen, pensive. Her head bowed, she went back to the cabin to go back to meet Conan. Before entering and closing the curtain, she whispered with a sigh. Yes, it would be so beautiful. She thought no one had heard it but not quite.

 _Ran, I promise you. When I have found my appearance. I'll invite you, as Sonoko just said, and I'll tell you everything I feel for you. You, the most beautiful of all._

 _While walking back to home Ran was shocked what Sonoko was telling. " do you know this Golden week will be most Romantic one " asked Sonoko._

 _Ran with amusement asked " why". "because during this week on may 3_ _rd_ _night SUPER FLOWER MOON will be there and it is said to be most important nights for couples and that's why there will lots of sales and shopping will be done by couples to buy gifts for their partners. I wish I and Makoto-san can go together" Replied Sonoko ._

 _" So we can go together Sonoko" said Ran. Then Sonoko teasing Ran and replied " so so you want to buy gift for your husband". "no, no I just want to buy a gift but for his birthday , you know na he always forgets it and I had to tell him." Ran replied. " you know that is also going to happen that day so you ask that geek to gift you something great" said Sonoko._

 _" I don't think he will care for these things . I didn't expect from him but I would gift him as for his birthday" Replied Ran. Conan saw sulking face of Ran again before he could say they were near the agency. Sonoko head back and they went up._

Hi dad, we're back! Ran was saying as he opened the agency door.

Ran and Conan returned to the living room where Kogoro used to question his clients. Mr. Mouri sat at his desk and watched television with a beer in his hand.

\- Dad ! What is this brothel! You cannot tidy up once in a while! She said, picking up a dozen beer cans on her desk. You still drank too much. How long have you been home?

\- Euhm it must be about four hours.

\- Well, I'll go prepare food. But before that, I'll quickly put away my clothes.

\- I hope you did not buy too vulgar clothes?

\- No, I bought T-shirts and a dress.

She showed him her dress.

\- its beautiful, huh?

\- Yes indeed. But how much did she cost you?

Moment of silence Kogoro, losing the patient, took the dress and looked at the label and almost strangled.

\- 20 ... ..20'000 yens!

When Mr. Mouri wanted to answer his daughter, the phone started to ring. Ran sighed in relief. She told herself, at that moment, that an angel was watching her closely. Kogoro answered while fixing his daughter.

\- hello, detective agency Mouri.

\- Mr. Mouri? It's the inspector Megure to the device. Please excuse me for the inconvenience. I would like to talk to you about a very important matter.

\- I'm listening to you.

While his father was on the phone, Ran folded his dress and put it in the store's bag. She prepared to go up to her room. Then she remembered that she forgot to bring groceries so she ran back quickly to convenience store.

Woman robbed by 'Santa.' Police searching for the costumed thief now.

Conan frowned as his eyes skimmed over the news.. Looking at all the information, the clues added up easily. The holidays were simply a time of high-crime. Whether they were people desperate to have money for gifts or cold-hearted souls just wanting to use the chaotic hustle and bustle to their advantage, it wasn't uncommon to hear about such attacks under the ruse of the jolly beaded man.

But this year, Shinichi saw differently the same crime scenario he had analyzed many times before. This was in part to his current state trapped in the body of young Edogawa Conan. For it is only after being with the very children that look up to and admire Santa Claus that one can see how positively deranged these crimes could be. Through the eyes of a child who still believes, Santa was an icon of goodness and cheer and yet criminals everywhere would use him and the holiday season as means to do bad. It was a very sad state of affairs, Conan noted ruefully as he shoved the newspaper back under Kogoro's arm. How would such news be taken by a small child?

It would take a very pathetic person indeed, the teenage mind inside the youthful façade noted, to use an innocent man's face and name for the sake of crime.

"Conan-kun? Otousan?" Ran's warm voice echoed down the hallway.

Blinking himself out of his deeper thoughts, Conan looked up at her and smiled, "Ran-neechan, you're home."

She pushed open the door, bags of groceries in her arms, "A nice young man helped me carry my things, wasn't that sweet of him?"

"How young a man?" Shinichi steamed inwardly.

Jumping up, Conan went to 'innocently' look out the window, "Where?"

"Oh, he must have left already. Once I got to the door I told him that I could get them up the stairs on my own. But still, it was very kind of him."

Conan pouted, while inside his brain Shinichi was turning green with jealousy.

"I can help next time, Ran-neechan!"

Smiling, Ran tapped the young boy on the nose, "I know. But you can only carry so much."

"Don't remind me," He thought wryly.

"But I did get this for you," She said, pulling out a warm, gingerbread cookie.

Conan's eyes lit up, he loved gingerbread cookies.

"Thank you!" He chirped, biting into one of the cookie's arms.

Ran laughed, "I thought you'd like that. Shinichi always liked them."

He paused, looking up at her as she reminiscence.

"He'd always eat the right arm first saying, 'If he was an armed criminal- this way I've incapacitated his firing arm. Since I've noticed him favoring his right hand, the chances are he's right handed.'"

Glancing down at the cookie in his hands, Conan smiled. He'd bitten into the right arm, just like he had as a kid.

"Shinichi-niisan is funny," He remarked, biting into the other arm quickly before Ran noticed the similar trait.

As Ran walked over to rouse her Father from where he slept, the phone began to ring and Kogoro stirred awake.

"Ehh, Yoko not yet..."

"OTousan!" Ran reprimanded him. He jolted awake and groped about for the phone.

"Ahh- phone yes," He cleared his throat, "Hello, Mouri Detective Agency. How can I... Megure-keibu? What? We'll be right there."

"Otousan, what's going on?"

"Talk as we go, we've got a case," He said grabbing up a coat and rushing them out the door.

"But shouldn't I stay here and cook dinner?"

"Ran-neechan, come on," Conan urged having jumped up and rushed to the door himself. He knew if he didn't follow quickly, Kogoro would leave them out of the case and nothing would get solved.

"Ah but-" She saw the small boy dart down the stairs and followed, "Conan-kun! Wait!"

They'd arrived at the scene in a few minutes. Kogoro was less than pleased that once again "the brat" had tagged along, but Ran defended Conan saying that he was just curious, although she'd leveled him with a rather scolding stare herself.

After being greeted at the door of the house by Megure-keibu, they walked down the hallway as Officer Takagi rattled off the facts.

The victim was a middle-aged woman: Nikaido Fujiko, age 37, occupation: lawyer. Her wavy brown hair had fallen loose from its bun and she was being tended to by the paramedics. It was nothing that serious, just several minor cuts and a major scare, but the motive behind the crime still had yet to be discovered.

Looking at the scene of the explosion, Conan walked about and observed what he could without Kogoro noticing. The Golden week package she'd received had contained a small, home-made bomb that shot out pieces of metal when it was detonated. This wasn't a murder attempt, Conan noted, but more of a scare-tactic or warning.

The woman did have reason to become a person's target; she was a lawyer after all. Who knows how many people sent to jail because of her could possibly be out of prison now and back to settle some grudge. Luckily, Kogoro seemed to be thinking along the same lines and had asked for someone to get him a list of any cases tied to her and the names of any of those people who had been released.

"Probably has him a little more alert than usual," Conan noted to himself as he thought back to the victim, "That woman could have just as easily been Eri..."

There was a long list of possible suspects, she was a formidable lawyer that was for certain; but there was no one on the list that didn't have an alibi or wasn't still securely behind bars. None of those in prison had sent out any packages in the last month, it had been triple checked. And the alibis behind the two who were out of prison were rock solid.

Kogoro was baffled, something that wasn't all that surprising; but this time Conan was as well.

Had it been delivered to Mrs. Nikaido by accident? Was it just some sort of sick prank by some punk teenagers and she was the unlucky target? Or was it a message meant to scare someone else?

A few days passed, and they were no closer to the answer than before. That's when the phone rang with a second case- another present, another bombing.

The second victim was injured slightly more than Mrs. Nikaido. Hiroshi Matsumoto, age 27, current occupation: pizza delivery boy. He'd been taken to the hospital with a minor head-injury caused by the explosives. The paramedics on the scene assured the police he would be fine; but like with all head-injures, they wanted to play it safe and check him out further at the hospital.

The scene itself was very similar to the first case. Remains of what appeared to be a small Golden week Cactus, its pot and the large red-ribbon Conan surmised was probably wrapped around the pot prior to the bomb going off laid scattered on the floor outside Mr. Matsumoto's door. Like Mrs. Nikaido before him, the bomb had detonated moments after he'd answered the door.

By this, the deduction behind the method of detonating the bomb was simple. The bomber had to be able to know when the victim would open the door and take the package from the ground. Meaning- whoever it was had to have been nearby.

Rushing from the room, Conan ran out to the street and started looking about. On spotting an elderly man at a nearby convenience store glancing at the police cars, he stopped to speak to him.

"Did you see someone come out of that building just now?"

"Ah, boy. It's not safe to be by yourself right now. Someone just got a bad gift and it's dangerous."

Conan laughed lightly, putting his hand behind his head, "I know. I'm helping Detective Mouri."

The man's eyes widened at that, "So you're that young boy that helps the famous detective?"

Conan nodded, "So did you see anyone come past recently?"

He paused, rubbing his chin as he thought, "No. Can't say I have. There was just the person who must have delivered that package."

"What did he look like?" Conan asked breathlessly. This was it, the bomber was hand-delivering his own bombs!

"I'm not sure, boy. He was dressed up as Santa Claus."

Shock etched itself on Conan's face and he mustered up a smile, "Ah- thanks Mister! I'll go tell Detective Mouri right now!"

Racing back towards the house, he looked around once more at the clues. Tugging at the pants leg of one of the officers, he played the innocent card.

"Hey, how'd the bomb go off at just the right time?"

"Ah, you see this?" The officer pointed to the pieces of red plastic in the bag.

Conan nodded.

"We think that like the first case, there was a cell phone or pager inside the gift used to trigger the bomb."

"Oh! I've seen them do that on TV. Wouldn't that mean that the bomber would have to be where he could see the person pick up the gift? Or be the person who brought the package?"

In the background, the information sunk into Kogoro's mind.

"Megure-keibu, have them ask people in the area if they saw the person who delivered the package. Chances are, that's our bomber."

Megure shouted out orders and several officers scattered to start asking around.

"Mouri-kun, do you have any idea who the bomber might be or what the motive is?" Megure said, turning to look at him.

Kogoro laughed nervously, "Um... I'm working on it?"

"Hmm, we'll have to look into what might be a connecting factor between Mrs. Nikaido and Mr. Matsumoto."

By the third morning, both the connection and another victim turned up. Having gotten a phone call from Megure early that morning, both Kogoro and Conan groggily stood by as they observed the scene.

This victim had gotten the worst of it so far. A Golden week teddy bear loaded with explosives left the young woman in critical condition as they rushed her to the hospital.

Houko Kisaragi, age 25, occupation: waitress. Her data along with Mrs. Nikaido's and Mr. Matsumoto's though made the connection finally clicked.

It all came down to a trial held around Thanksgiving with a man named Akira Ishimaru.

Conan sat on the couch, intently concentrating on the voices being broadcasted through his earpiece. Unbeknownst to Kogoro, Conan had tacked a small transmission device onto his tie before he'd left for the briefing with Megure about the case.

Now, as he sat with a newspaper draped over his face pretending to sleep so Ran wouldn't ask why he was just sitting there, Conan listened.

"Mouri-kun, do you remember the case with Akira Ishimaru a few months ago?"

"Hmmm. Was that the robbery and hostage case?"

"Yes. We think this may be tied to it."

Shinichi's mind slowly pieced the full story together, coming to a startling conclusion.

Akira Ishimaru was a man down on his luck. He'd just lost his job and his girlfriend was threatening to leave him. Desperate to make ends meet, he robbed a bank- accidentally shooting the teller in his panic. Scared that he'd shot someone, Akira took a young woman hostage and demanded that he be given three million yen and a ticket out of the country.

Not sure where the man could be, the police were tipped off by Akira's friend Hiroshi Matsumoto as to a few places he could be hiding. And it turned out, the girl being held hostage was Akira's girlfriend at the time- Houko Kisaragi.

After that, all the pieces all fell into place.

Shinichi remembered the case. As Conan, he'd innocently suggested to Kogoro that of the hiding places the most likely was the one that coincided with a path that was not far from the bank he robbed and went past the diner (where Houko worked and was kidnapped and taken hostage from.) It wasn't long before they arrived at the location and apprehended the man.

In Akira's eyes: Hiroshi betrayed him, Houko was about to break-up with him and Fujiko Nikaido was the lawyer who prosecuted him in court. How he was managing this when it was verified he was still in prison was another mystery altogether, but at least now they knew the motive and could predict the bomber's next move. But Conan realized, if these bombs were a warning leading up to a murder- there was one person that would be the final target.

The man who brought Akira in- Mouri Kogoro.

Quickly scrambling up and yelling to Ran as he rushed out the door that he was going out to play, Conan made his way to the nearby phone booth.

Twisting the dial on the bowtie, he got Officer Shiratori's voice and placed the call.

"Megure-keibu?"

"Ahh, Shiratori-kun. Did you find something else out?" The Inspector asked.

"I believe the bomber's next target will be Mouri-san."

"Why's that?"

Using Shiratori's voice, Conan reasoned the deduction he'd just made and his preposition to prevent it. It was simple really, no one would suspect a holiday trip right before Golden week and then they could have someone watching Kogoro at every second just in case.

Megure agreed and the plan was set into motion.

They'd routed all packages and mail to Kogoro's holiday address. There was even a sign on the door reading, "Mouri Kogoro is not here right now. For urgent matters please contact him at the following address."

If the bomber didn't already know Kogoro was out of town, he wouldn't get past the front door without finding out.

Meanwhile, Kogoro was enjoying a vacation resort furnished with all the alcohol and pretty girls to keep him content. But nearby, there were officers watching him at every moment. If the bomber approached, they'd apprehend him in no time.

Little did everyone know, they'd misjudged their bomber...

It had been nice and quiet at home without Kogoro's snoring or chanting at a Yoko concert on TV and Conan was enjoying it. It was paradise for the teen-turned-child, and he was eating it up.

This, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that without her father around, Ran was paying lots of attention to him. Nope, not at all.

Ran had just gotten home from classes and Conan had managed to escape the Shounen Tantei for the afternoon. He was all set for a nice evening having dinner with Ran, when a knock sounded on the door.

"Coming!" Ran called, walking her way over to the door. She opened it, but no one was there.

Glancing up and down the hallway, Conan saw her gasp in surprise on seeing something resting at her feet.

"Oh, it's a present."

Conan looked closer, noticing the small Golden week tree Ran held in her hands.

Flipping open the small card, Ran read it aloud.

"To Ran. From...Shinichi," Her voice rose to a pitch Conan knew all too well. It was the way she said his real name anymore- shocked, angered, worried, yet still somehow so touched. Deep down, it pained him to hear it sometimes- knowing that it was his fault that there was that anger and worry mixed in there instead of the playful bickering tone that they once used around one another.

But at that very moment, Ran voiced the exact urgent thought that rushed into Conan's mind.

"But Shinichi wouldn't send something like this," She said skeptically, turning the small tree about as confusion settled on her features.

"No, I wouldn't. That's just stupid. And what's with that large partridge on the side? It's ticking like it's a..."

Before he could ponder more on who would be sending a small tree with a partridge-clock to Ran under his name, he was struck with one ominous thought.

"It's not Kogoro that he's after. It's Ran."

Not wasting a single second, Conan rushed into action.

"Ran-neechan, watch out!" He jumped at her legs, knocking the gift from her hand and hoping it fell far enough away. The second they hit the ground, he protectively shielded her.

One final tick echoed down the hall before the bomb inside detonated.

He'd hit his head, Conan noted, but the ache wasn't all that bad. Sitting up, he looked at where Ran laid beside him.

"Ran-neechan!" He said, shaking her lightly, "Ran, are you okay?"

"Conan-kun?" She asked wearily turning to look up at him.

They both had some injuries from where the debris from the explosion hit them, but he'd gotten the bomb far enough away in time. Sighing in relief, he nodded to her.

"Are you okay, Ran-neechan?"

He saw her wipe a trail of blood off her cheek, "Yeah. But how did you know that it was a…"

Her words died on her lips and her eyes widened. Before Conan could react, she'd grabbed him and held him close as she shakily stood to confront the approaching figure.

"Well, it looks like I'll have to settle this one in person," The man sneered from the shadows.

Shifting in Ran's arms, Conan dropped to the floor and tried his best to shield Ran behind him.

"And how cute. The boy's trying to be a hero," The bomber stepped forward- red Santa suit hiding most of his features, "Sorry brat, but your girlfriend here has been a bad girl this year and Santa needs to give her some lead."

Conan gulped, edging back against Ran as he inwardly cursed himself for not seeing this sooner.

"It was never Kogoro that he blamed. It was Ran. She was the one who used her karate to get the hostage to safety and knock him unconscious. Akira would never have known that Kogoro was the one that discovered the location and would put all that blame on Hiroshi's tip-off. Damnit, why didn't I see this before now? How can I protect Ran like this?"

Desperately, he looked around for anything large enough to kick at the man- but there was nothing. They were trapped, plain and simple. About to recklessly attempt rushing at the man's legs, Conan paused when he felt Ran's hand on his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Ran asked, obviously trying to buy them some time.

"Ha! You should know after all the hell you put my brother through!" The man yelled, yanking the hat off. "It was you that turned my brother into the police. It's all your fault!"

He raised his gun and cocked it, aiming it directly at her heart.

"Heh, and not a soul will ever find out who did this. No one remembers baby brother Kenji. No one cares that he's been living out on the street since his brother got sent to jail!"

Conan could feel Ran's fingers tensing on his shoulder, and was once again about to try some vain attempt to save her when her light whisper caught his ear.

"Conan, don't move."

Kenji grinned manically, "Aww, how sweet. Protecting the kid, eh? Too bad for you there's nothing you can do to save your-"

Before his sentence was finished, Ran had kicked over Conan's head and knocked the gun from his hand. In his shock, Kenji looked around for it and gave Ran just the chance she needed to take him out. A few kicks and punches later- he lay unconscious, much like the brother before.

Slumping down to the ground, Ran placed a hand to her forehead.

"Conan-kun, please go call the police."

Not sure what else to say, and certain he'd lost a few hairs when she'd kicked above him- he quickly went and dialed the number. Moments later, help arrived and Kenji Ishimaru was taken into custody. The case of the Golden week Bomber was finally solved.

That evening, Ran sat on the couch helping Conan put bandages on the small cuts they'd both gotten from the bomb.

"You know, Conan-kun."

"Hmm? What is it Ran-neechan?"

"You haven't happened to hear if Shinichi is going to give me any gift this year, have you?"

Conan blinked. True, he often pretended that he kept in contact with the teen detective, but right now he wasn't sure how much money he could get together in time or how he'd give a gift to her without her yelling at him over the phone for not delivering it in person.

"No- uh, he hasn't mentioned anything."

"Oh…"

He noticed her face drop and quickly tried to cheer her back up.

"But he's probably just afraid that I'll slip and tell since kids always do that. I bet he's got a really nice gift ready for you, Ran-neechan. I mean- he really cares about you so I bet it's something you'd really want too!"

Ran smiled, blushing a little, "Well don't you tell him he has to, because that's not fair. I haven't seen him much since last year so he has to".

Repressing his own blush, he looked off towards the window.

"I'm sure Shinichi-niichan's thinking about what to get you right now. But well, if you're afraid he'll do something stupid like get you a potted tree with a partridge, I can drop him some hints."

Sticking a band aid on Conan's cheek, Ran hugged him from behind.

"Thanks, Conan-kun. For earlier today and for this."

He smiled up at her, "Anything for you, Ran-neechan."

The room fell silent at that, both of them just enjoying the moment. But that was shattered as the door slammed open and Kogoro drunkenly stumbled in.

"Oi, Ran. Tell that boyfriend of yours not to send you anymore bombs."

"Tousan! Shinichi didn't send me the bomb!" She countered, then with a blush added,

"Could of fooled me. Not that I approve mind you."

"Tousan!"

As the father and daughter continued to bicker in the background, Conan sighed.

"Heh, like I'd want your approval old man…"

A LIITLE BURD TOLD ME

It was just a bit after Thanksgiving and the Golden week shopping season had just begun. For most people, this meant rushing about and trying to pick out the perfect gift. But, for one young man- he knew just the trick for finding out what he was going to get.

Casually waiting atop a nearby building, he stored his glider away as his usual white-outfit billowed in the wind. If anyone did spot him, they'd just figure that Kaitou KID was once again plotting to steal something. Little did they know that KID was simply spying on a certain person's Golden week shopping.

Holding out his hand, two doves appeared with a 'poof' and he leaned down to whisper to them. The birds nodded their understanding and flew off. Kaito smiled.

"You're not going to trick me this year, Aoko."

Unbeknownst to the young girl walking into the store, she was being watched. The two doves had innocently perched outside the window and to anyone passing by they were nothing but ordinary birds.

But they were there with one purpose and one purpose only- to find out what, if anything, Aoko was also buying gift for Kaito for this Golden week.

The girl started out looking at ties, a gift for her Father. Looking at each one she asked herself, "Which of these says, 'Today is the day I'll capture KID!'?" Finally deciding on a black one (which Aoko reasoned, "Black is the opposite of KID's outfit, so that means success in catching KID!") she moved onto the next department.

But this was when the two turtle doves got themselves a tip-off they weren't expecting. Namely, another brown-haired girl who was shopping for someone special.

Bumping into each other in the young men's department- Nakamori Aoko couldn't help but get excited on seeing Mouri Ran walking her way.

"You're the daughter of Mouri Kogoro, the famous detective right?" She asked, walking up to her.

"And you're…" Ran trailed off. The face seemed familiar, but it wasn't clicking right away.

"Nakamori Aoko. My Father's the one on the KID case."

Ran lit up at that, "Ah! I know you now. They always show you on TV holding up the signs cheering on your Father."

Aoko smiled, "Yep! That's me."

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, both talking about their Father's and the odd cases they'd been on. Finally, on seeing that they'd drifted towards a shelf of various scarves- Ran smiled and picked one up.

"Oh, this would be perfect!"

"Shopping for your boyfriend? It's that teen detective Kudo Shinichi, right?" Aoko questioned.

Ran blushed and nodded her head as she began to ramble protests, "Yes! We are now in relationship that! I mean, we've been close since we were kids, but Shinichi's just some idiot who's always away on a case and might be too busy with his latest to stop by for something like Golden week so getting him a gift is kind of stupid, but I still want to."

Aoko nodded, but really didn't know what to say.

"Are you shopping for your boyfriend then?" Ran asked, figuring that was why she assumed the same of her.

"No! Kaito and I are just friends- like, like you and Kudo! I mean, he practically skipped out on my Golden week party last year and he's always being such a trickster. He really doesn't deserve more than a mop to the head on Golden week holidays."

At that, both of the girls laughed.

"Well, I suppose we should at least get the good-for-nothings something," Ran said, once again eyeing the scarves.

"Ooh, this one would be perfect," Aoko remarked on seeing a scarf with a fish-design.

"Fish?"

"Kaito hates them," She said with a smirk.

The two joked some more about their not-boyfriends and finally they decided on a scarf for kaito.

Aoko had selected a deep red one with a design that mimicked the four decks of cards. She knew that Kaito would probably wear it while doing a magic trick and make the cards rise out of it or some-such illusion. Looking over at Ran, the other girl blinked on seeing her pick out two identical Suits.

"Who's the small suit for?"

Ran smiled, "Conan-kun. He's this boy that's staying with my family. Although sometimes I think he knows more about where Shinichi is than he lets on, he's still a sweet kid. Almost like Shinichi when we were little- a bratty little mystery freak with an endearing streak."

Aoko nodded, "Sounds like he could be Kudo's little brother."

"Or something like that," Ran remarked, a knowing look in her eyes.

Gathering up the two blue suit and black suit for Shinichi and Conan, Ran said her goodbyes to Aoko and remarked that they should get together again to "vent about their annoyances."

As she walked out of the door, the two doves took off and returned to their owner.

When Kaito heard that Aoko had met up with none other than Ran, he couldn't help but be amused. Intrigued by what Ran had said about the connection between Conan and Shinichi, he drew a rough conclusion of what could be. Either way though, he knew the best way to get a message to Kudo was through that little detective boy.

Telling himself that it was Golden week and that was his reason for warning his rival of what his girl had bought him, Kaito let the two doves fly off with a note in tow for one Kudo Shinichi c/o Edogawa Conan.

Ran had gone out shopping, and instead of insisting that Conan come along- she had absolutely forbid him to come or follow. Of course, detective genius or not- he knew that was a red and green flag screaming "Golden week shopping."

While he tried to use deductive methods to determine what it could be that Ran was getting, he noticed to doves perch on the window sill with a message tied to their legs.

Opening the window, he took the note and watched as the birds flew off. Something about the doves unsettled him, and for a moment he wondered if KID was issuing a personal challenge.

Much to his surprise- the riddle inside was about something else entirely.

Two turtle doves today did shop, one who shares your nest at night.

Of fairest face but with perfect stance, she ventures today for an item just right.

Struck by a notion of woven warmth, she buys two in white and blue.

A clue for you, little detective; may you make her wishes come true.

\- Kaitou KID

"Ran…"

He knew it meant her without a second thought. Two doves- two girls. One who shares his nest- the one girl in his household. Fair face yet perfect stance- pretty but skilled in karate. She was out shopping today for a gift.

"So she got both me and Conan a blue and black suit? Heh, KID- perhaps I owe you one for this. For even the greatest of detectives can falter when it comes to guessing a gift bought by a special someone. Ran's always worked on stumping me and I suppose I'm too busy frantically trying to get her something to figure out what she could have gotten me. Then again…" He smirked with a amusement as he noted the first words again, "It looks like you had a dove shopping for you as well."

And finding himself highly amused at the thought of Kaitou KID spying on his crush Golden week shopping for him, Conan tucked the note into his back pocket.

"Now, if only a little bird would tell me what it is Ran wants for Golden week…"

They had all found it somewhat suspicious. A banquet- a Golden week banquet- in which many important figures in the Japanese police forces were invited. Invitations also extended to friends and family, something that made three young men rather uneasy.

Heiji had gotten worried the second he got the invitation, and quickly phoned his young friend.

"Kudo, did you get an invitation today?"

Yes, he had. And yes, Conan replied ruefully, he was just as concerned about the 'surprise entertainment' the invitation promised.

"There will be a surprise unmasking at the party, so make sure you're ready," Heiji read, Conan frowned.

They'd spent hours on the phone trying to figure out who could know that Conan was actually Kudo Shinichi and why they'd set this sort of event up with the purpose of unveiling that fact. Was it someone in the Black Organization- hoping that in the confusion they'd manage to finish him off at last? No- Hattori and Kudo reasoned, they wouldn't risk appearing with that many police inspectors and detectives around. Was it someone testing Kudo to see what he'd do in such a situation? Shinichi noted that he wouldn't put Haibara past testing him, but also was quick to note that she'd never do something to this extent to scare him into silence. A gun to the head was one thing, but exposing him in a situation like this was quite another. Was it KID, hoping to distract all his opponents while he stole another gem? No- they both knew all too well that KID always announced his heists first, and the banquet would be called off if any police station had received such a message.

"Maybe we're just being paranoid, Kudo," Heiji muttered with a yawn, "Maybe there's some bad-apple in the force that they're trying to unmask and weed out. Hell, maybe they've done something to lure KID there in disguise. It could be a lot of things but you."

But Shinichi wasn't going to take the risk, "I'll go, but we'd both better stay on guard."

With that agreement, they both went onto bed- not knowing that there was a third young man up late trying to decide what to do as well...

Kuroba Kaito was trapped. The message had invited him, in hopes he could help entertain the guests with his skilled magic. Apparently, one of the organizers had seen his Father perform and insisted on getting Kaito for the job.

But much like his little detective rival, Kaito couldn't help but feel uneasy at the notation that a portion of the entertainment would involve an "unmasking."

Had the organization that killed his Father decided that if they couldn't kill KID, they'd make sure he was behind bars before finding Pandora? No- although his Father had been killed during a magic act, they weren't stupid enough to be around that many officers and detectives at once. Had that little detective figured out his true identity and decided to reveal it in front of everyone? No- Kaito reasoned, Conan wouldn't have any fun in just handing him over like that. Did Akako get bitter and decide to let him get caught? Had Hakuba gotten tired of pretending he didn't know and decided to swoop down amidst the chaos of the Japanese police to capture KID and get all the glory for himself? No, he might not like to think of them that way- but in a sense, those two were friends. Crazy, sometimes scary-friends, but friends nonetheless.

And so, much like Conan, he was baffled. He couldn't turn down the invitation, especially after seeing how happy Aoko was that she'd have "someone interesting to sit by at a boring police dinner." If anything, Kaito decided, he'd just have to carefully plan his routine to where nothing in it seemed too similar to KID's tricks.

The day came, and the three young men entered into the hall with various levels of trepidation. Heiji was already dreading the earful that Ran and Kazuha would give him if they found out he'd known Conan was Shinichi all along. And both Conan and Kaito found themselves dreading that the advertised unmasking would be their own.

A waitress ushered each of them to their seats, and their suspicions grew deeper on hearing that the hosts had assigned seats according to a special event that would happen after the banquet.

"The last meal..." Kaito thought to himself sardonically.

"At least I'll have a full stomach before the two girls beat me into a pulp," Heiji mused, taking his seat besides Kazuha.

"Maybe if I'm lucky, Kogoro will get so drunk we'll have to leave early," Conan silently hoped.

But with the sight of the large banquet set out before them, their concerns wavered and their thoughts drifted to more important things. Namely- the food.

The menu was a treat in and of itself: Cornish hens, quail with truffles, steak tartare, turkey and all the furnishings. A tall, brown-haired woman walked up to where Kaito sat and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm not KID!" The muffled protest came, luckily- the turkey leg in his mouth made it sound more like "inf mott ido"

She smiled, and stifled a laugh, "Sorry to trouble you, Kuroba-kun. I thought you might like your dessert early since you'll be busy when it's served to the other guests."

"She must be one of the hosts..." He thought to himself, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I'll be...busy?" He asked skeptically.

Aoko elbowed him, "Idiot, you're performing your magic then."

"Ahhh, yes I am."

He grinned and the woman smiled at the two of them. Motioning to a nearby waitress, a tray with a dish of chocolate ice cream was brought over.

"We heard it was your favorite, so I hope this will do."

Kaito's eyes widened, "How did you..."

"We just asked your girlfriend, Aoko-chan."

The two of them blushed, both muttering protests that they were nothing but friends.

Across the room, another unsuspecting young man was approached by one of the hosts. Small desert held in his hand, the tall bearded man smiled down at the small boy.

"Edogawa-kun?" He questioned.

"Mmm?" He looked up at his name. Studying the man, he knew it had to be one of their two mysterious hosts.

"I hope you don't mind having dessert served a bit early. Our magician who's performing this evening has asked for your assistance in his act so you'll be a bit tied up when desert is served to the others."

Raising an eyebrow, but still playing innocent, Conan smiled and took the small dish of ice-cream.

"Thanks mister! It'll be fun to be in a magic show!"

The host smiled, "Yes, it should be very interesting- my small detective friend."

As the man turned away, Conan frowned. Something about this man was strangely familiar- but as to what, he couldn't quite place it. Whatever it was though, it wasn't good for him.

Backstage, the Kaito was setting up his tricks as he noticed the small shadow of the boy approach along with the lady host.

"Ah, Kuroba-kun. We thought you might need an audience volunteer so we decided to let Mouri-san's young friend help you."

Kaito's eyes widened, his mind yelling at him, "Danger Kuroba Kaito! Danger! This is a trap! Run while you can!"

So concerned was he with his own predicament that Kaito didn't notice that Conan seemed equally hesitant about being there. As the lady host walked away, they both cautiously eyed each other.

"You're the magician?" Conan asked, quickly estimating the teen's age, height and various other stats.

"Um...yah," Kaito laughed nervously, "And you must be that detective kid that hangs around with Mouri Kogoro."

Conan shrugged, "Something like that. So what's your name?"

Kaito swallowed. This was it- Conan just needed one more piece before he'd gotten it all figured out.

"My name is...is..."

"Kaito!" A girl's voice cut into the conversation, diverting both of their attentions towards the female figure that approached.

"Um... yes Aoko?" He eyed Conan out of the corner of his eye. Had the small detective taken his first name 'Kaito' and figured that it was not only similar to the title 'Kaitou' but that his stats all matched up to those of KID?

"You're going to need an assistant right? Why didn't you ask me?"

He blinked, then hoping it would keep his mind off things, Kaito slipped into his usual 'let's tease Aoko' mode.

"Well then, we'll have to spice up this outfit a bit then."

Pulling a sheet up from the ground he draped it around her, "Hmmm- hey boy, what's the one thing that a magician always keeps under his hat?"

Conan smirked, "That's a rather simple riddle dontcha think? A rabbit, of course."

Yanking the sheet away, Aoko found herself with set of rabbit ears on her head and a red and green outfit that would have put a playboy bunny to shame.

"Kaito!"

He grinned, "Correct, my little friend. Except this bunny is a tad bit rabid, I think."

Aoko blushed and fumed, her eyes darting towards the mop that rested against the side of the stage.

Before she could brandish her weapon though, Kaito placed a hand on each of her shoulders and with a flourish- her outfit changed once again.

"All right, joking aside- how's this for my lovely assistant?"

A red dress materialized on her figure, draped around all her feminine curves in just the right places. Even Kaito had to silently admit, that Aoko was indeed a lovely assistant.

"K-Kaito!" She stammered, her cheeks turning red.

"All right, now to give myself something to match," He said, transforming his outfit into a fancy suit and top hat; a matching red ascot adorned his neck.

Conan watched in amusement, his mind slowly putting things together and opting not to mention it at the moment.

This boy, was most likely his rival Kaitou KID. The height, appearance, and just his attitude and talent were simply too similar. But what did that matter? He knew that KID knew he was Kudo Shinichi, so it was only fair. It was their shared secret- and after seeing Kaito and Aoko bicker back and forth, Conan knew precisely why KID was so adamant about not having his identity revealed.

"I suppose we both will face a time when we'll have to tell them our secrets, but until then- we just want them to be as happy as they can be."

The mop-chase going on backstage due to Kaito suggesting giving Aoko matching lingerie for her silky red dress was cut short as the two hosts approached the trio.

"We're ready for the show. And Kuroba-kun, you do have the finale prepared right?"

Kaito looked uneasy," I have the setup for it prepared, but I still haven't been told who it is that's being unmasked."

The woman smiled, "Don't worry, they'll be there when it comes time. Trust me."

Conan and Kaito caught each other's skeptical looks, and then they both knew what was up. Kaito tilted his head and shrugged, "So you know right?"

"Yah. But since you know the same of me, we'd both do best to keep quiet right?"

Kaito smiled, "Glad to know you feel that way. I'm not exactly in the mood to ruin the Golden week season for a certain someone."

"I couldn't agree with you more."

Aoko blinked, "You two... know each other?"

"Ah-Ah- Aoko, it's just... well..."

"Kaito-san came to our school once and we talked. He's really nice," Conan said innocently.

"Ohh, I see," Aoko looked over to Kaito, "And just who is this 'certain someone'?"

"Well- um...Oh look, it's time to start the show. Come on, Aoko. Places please!"

Pushing her towards the left side of the stage, Kaito moved back to center-stage before motioning for the curtains to open. And with that, the show began.

The magic show went off without a single hitch. Each trick was a spectacle all its own and even Aoko and Conan found themselves marveling at Kaito's skill. But as the time for the finale neared, both Kaito and Conan grew nervous as to what the hosts had in store for them.

Right before the last trick, the two hosts came out on stage for their announcement.

"Let's give our young magician friend and his assistants a big round of applause," The lady host said, as she took the microphone.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...but first, my husband has one favor to ask of you."

Taking the microphone, he spoke, "Right before the show, I'd asked you all to write down a heartfelt secret on the slips of paper I provided. Please take those papers out right now."

The audience murmured, but still obliged. Backstage, one of the waitresses provided the three performers with the papers.

"Just write a heartfelt secret on it. That's all you need to do," She instructed.

Kaito and Aoko looked at each other a brief second before turning away with a blush and writing down theirs. Conan stared at the blank paper, all of the clues finally falling into place. He had a feeling he'd solved the mystery behind this fiasco and he also knew that he wasn't going to fall into the trap they'd laid for him. Writing down the words carefully, he made sure not to lie- but he also made sure not to write what they expected him to.

Hoping that the Kaitou had chosen his words wisely too, Conan looked up expectantly at the hosts for the next set of instructions.

"Now, I'd like to you to exchange those with the person sitting to your right. And as a reward, I will give you the promised special entertainment."

Some of the audience grew nervous at this request and Conan had to withhold a laugh as he spotted Heiji and Kazuha both as bright red as the Golden week decorations were. It was all falling into place, and much like he'd predicted, it was right then that a waitress ushered Ran backstage to where he was standing.

"Um...Conan-kun, I'm supposed to exchange my paper with yours," Ran said quietly.

She was blushing, and he felt himself grew slightly nervous for a different reason than before. He'd been too busy figuring out what to write on his that he'd not yet speculated what Ran might have written on hers. But given her reaction, he had a feeling that it was something rather important.

Handing over his paper with a light blush of his own, Conan smiled awkwardly, "Oh... um- here, Ran-neechan."

Behind them, he spotted both Kaito and Aoko equally flustered. For a moment, he wondered if his theory was a simple as the hosts wanting to embarrass everyone in any possible way. Then again, if that was their plan- they'd certainly succeeded. He was just glad that he'd realized it in time to pick his words right.

"Okay, now- open the paper that was given to you," The host instructed.

There was a nervous rustling of paper, followed by awkward stammering's. Conan was certain that some of the papers contained something as simple as a secret love or admiration. Others, perhaps, spoke of wishes and dreams that the writer had until that point kept entirely to themselves. Nothing too dark or serious would have been said, for fear- Conan noted- of someone overseeing it while they wrote it. But it did seem to create a sort of strange unity as comrades and friends smiled and hugged one another as if a great burden had been relieved from their shoulders.

"Sometimes sharing a secret is the best gift you can give," A familiar voice echoed in Shinichi's memory. It was at the moment he became certain of who had set this up and why.

But he was still faced with one more mystery- the secret that was written on Ran's paper. Slowly opening it, his eyes followed the loose handwriting.

 _Sometimes if I can't sleep, I sit up and watch Conan-kun sleeping. It's stupid, I know; but he reminds me of Shinichi and that comforts me. Almost like Shinichi's here with me even though it's Conan and not him that I'm watching. I care about them both very much and just knowing that they're here or that they're thinking about me makes everything better._

Conan blinked, his mind slowly processing the depth of those words.

"Ran..."

Before he could react or say anything though, he felt Ran's arms wrapping around him in a hug. Her tears brushed against his face as she held him close.

She'd read his secret, he thought to himself as the paper fluttered to the floor. And at that moment, he was so thankful that he'd written what he had instead of something less sentimental.

I suppose my secret would be this:

 _I admire Ran-neechan very much. Even when Shinichi-niisan is away, she stays strong for me and for her Father. She's always looking out for both of us and worrying for Shinichi-niisan. But there are times when I see her crying, and I wish so much that I was strong enough to stop her tears._

Trying to hold back his own emotions, he quietly spoke.

"Ran-neechan, please- don't cry."

She pulled back and looked down at him, nodding as she wiped away her tears.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." She caved and hugged the boy again, "That was so sweet, Conan-kun."

Squirming a bit so he didn't feel as crushed, he nervously replied.

"Umm, Ran-neechan?"

She looked at him and he continued.

"If it makes you feel better, you can stay by my side as long as you need."

Her smile widened at that and she nodded, "Thank you, Conan-kun."

Nearby, another set of notes were exchanged.

I suppose that I do sorta-kinda like-like Kaito. Even if he's a KID-defending, perverted, magic-freak.

Kaito blinked, blushed and then tried to decide if he should be touched or insulted.

 _I do have one type of fish that I like. I'm not sure the name of the species or anything, since it isn't a real fish at all. And I know if she ever gets wind of this that I'm getting a mop to my head. But I do have to admit, the little fish on Aoko's panties are rather cute. Quite suiting for the one wearing them._

Trying to hold back her own blush, Aoko stammered.

"See! It's like I said- you're a pervert!"

"Pervert? I was complimenting you, idiot!"

"How is saying the fish on my panties is the only type you like a compliment? Huh?"

"Read the paper again, I said the fish were cute- like you!" Kaito retorted, face bright red.

Aoko looked down, re-read the last line and turned as red as her dress. "I-Idiot..." She murmured.

But before the two could start in on bickering again, the lady host gave the signal that it was time for the finale. Waking over towards where the trap door was, Kaito's mind returned to the situation at hand; namely- hoping that there wasn't about to be another secret of his revealed that would have Aoko yelling at him more than she already was...

Taking the microphone again, the lady host spoke up, "And as promised, dear guests- here's the moment you've been waiting for. Although he's been walking among you all this time, I'm certain no one here has noticed that we have a bit of a celebrity in our midst. Now, on the count of three: one, two, three!"

With a flourish of confetti, rose petals and other magic effects- a cloaked figure rose unto the stage.

Conan smirked as the smoke cleared away, "So it is you behind this..."

"I've been here as your host all along, but I'm also-" The man removed his Night Baron mask and smiled, "Kudo Yusaku."

The audience seemed awed by this, as the famous author pulled a novel from his cloak.

"And in thanks for you playing along with my little game, I'm giving you copies of my brand new novel a few days before it comes out. Much like you experienced here tonight- it's a mystery of secrets and will show that sometimes you need to share some secrets before it's too late," He cast a knowing look at Conan and the young boy frowned back.

Having removed her own disguise, Yukiko joined her husband on the stage, "For now though, we hope that you'll enjoy this holiday dinner and have a wonderful Golden week season."

The room erupted into applause and the three young boys collectively sighed in relief. Shinichi though made a mental note to pull his parents aside and ask them just how much they were enjoying watching him squirm.

Turning to Ran, Conan whispered to her.

"Ran-neechan, I'm going to go say hello to Auntie and Uncle Kudo."

She nodded, "All right. I'll go wait with the others, so don't take long."

Darting over to where they were, Conan innocently tugged on Yusaku's pants leg.

"Mr. Kudo, can I ask you a question?"

The man smiled uneasily, "Sure. Let's go over here where it's less crowded."

Walking back to the corner of the stage where others weren't in hearing distance, Conan dropped the innocent act and scowled.

"I hope you know, I'm not laughing. Setting it up like someone's about to reveal my identity- that was Mother's idea wasn't it?"

Yusaku laughed, "Yes it was. But did you find out anything important?"

Thinking back to Ran's note, he nodded, "Yeah, yeah. So what if I did?"

"Son, we know it's not yet time to tell her everything but at least try and be there for her this Golden week. Professor Agasa told us she'd stood outside our house for hours once in the snow because she thought you'd come back and that's no way to let a beautiful woman spent her Golden week Eve."

Blushing, Shinichi grumbled back a reply, "... I know. I'll try."

"Shinichi," His Mother's voice cut in from behind him, "Don't try- make it happen. You're a smart boy, so try using that for something other than solving a mystery for once."

"Okay, okay- I get the idea."

Yukiko patted him on the head, "That's my boy. So now, what mushy secret did you put in your note hmmm?"

"Mother! I am not talking about this with you!"

"He probably mentioned how much he admired Ran's strength while Shinichi was away and hoped he could do more for her. That way, it seems to be from Conan's perspective but it really is the truth beneath it all."

Conan turned beet-red and started to walk away, "If you're done embarrassing me for today, I should probably go."

"Looks like you're right, dear."

"He's too easy to read. Needs to work on that," He murmured back.

"I take it you'll be around for the holidays?" Conan asked after a moment.

Yukiko nodded, "We'll be coming and going, of course. But we've already set up a nice Golden week dinner with just our family and the Professor. That way we can talk about things you're not ready to say in front of Ran yet."

Sighing, Conan turned and smiled, "You two just have to come and cause me trouble. Ah well- thanks for tonight."

"You're welcome, son," Yusaku replied, starting to head back in to where several guests were waiting for his autograph.

Pausing to give Conan a hug, Yukiko whispered to him, "If you need anything, don't be afraid to get in touch."

"Okay, Mom."

Walking back across the stage, Conan paused as a Kaito's voice called out to him.

"Hey kid, wait up," Kaito said, running behind him. Kneeling beside him, he opened his hand with a 'pon' and a dove appeared with a note in it's beak, "A thank you, for your assistance."

Conan took it and smirked, "I won't go easy on you, you know that right?"

Kaito shrugged, "It'd get boring if you did."

Taking the note and tucking it into his jacket, Conan returned to where Ran waited by the table with her Father. It had been a long, crazy night, but inside he felt somewhat relieved.

"A secret is the greatest of gifts," He murmured to himself.

"Conan-kun, come on!" Ran said, reaching down to take his hand.

Looking up at her, he had to smile. It might have been simple, but he was glad they'd shared those secrets. Even if it was under the ruse of Conan, his Father was right in saying he meant every word. And with that in mind, he decided that he would find a way to be there on Golden week for Ran. No matter what it took, he'd find a way.

The next day, curiosity had finally gotten a hold of the young detective. Phoning up Hattori, he began to haggle his friend for the 'juicy details' contained in notes that he and Kazuha had exchanged.

"It's nothing, Kudo. Trust me. It's just stupid, childish stuff- that's all."

But hearing the quake in his voice, Conan knew there was more to it than that. Deciding to pull the one trump card he had, he cleared his throat and spoke.

 _"I bet hers went something like this- 'I used to be really jealous of Ran because I thought she was trying to take my Heiji from me. Luckily, she's got someone else for her.'"_

"H-How did you know that..." Heiji stammered.

Conan had to withhold a laugh, "Oh, Ran might have mentioned it here and there..."

"Then you know what I said in mine..."

The Osaka detective sounded thoroughly embarrassed and Conan could no longer keep from laughing.

"Oh yes. We've heard already of your eloquent wording."

"Shut up! Kazuha kept looking over at me when I had to write it and I knew that ahou would throw a fit if I didn't say something like that. I didn't want her crying on me while I was trying to eat!"

"Ahh of course, that makes perfect sense," Conan remarked sarcastically.

"Kudo..."

"What was the exact phrasing again? Oh yes- 'I like Kazuha.' Rather straight and to the point, eh Hattori?"

"Hey! I just said I like her, that doesn't mean anything. I mean you like all your friends right?"

Conan shook his head, "Whatever you say. All I know is that if I get something nice for Ran for Golden week and all you get Kazuha is a 'I like you like a friend' gift, I'm not going to hold her back when she pummels you."

"Fine, fine. I get the point," Heiji muttered, then something clicked, "So... you're getting something special for Ran, eh?"

On having his own teasing turned back against him, Shinichi decided to use his full scale of wits to outdo Heiji.

"Ah- so sorry, Hattori. I have to go now. Call me back if you need help picking out a gift for your girlfriend."

And before Heiji could say a word, Conan hung up. Smugly grinning to himself, he mentally noted.

"Kudo Shinichi- 1, Hattori Heiji- 0"

The key in any form of detective work was talking first hand with the people involved. Slowly and surely, questions would have them handing over clues without them even realizing it and in no time at all, the mystery would be solved.

This, of course, was something that Kudo Shinichi applied to real life as well. Although, he had to admit, he found it much easier to confront a possible murderer and ask them about the case than he did speaking to his own childhood friend.

Then again, he reasoned, Ran was a force to be reckoned with all her own and he could never tell if she'd be happy to get a call from him or angry that he hadn't called sooner.

Planning his course of action carefully, and securely blocking the door to the small room in Professor Agasa's lab just in case- Conan took out his cell phone and prepared to set a sequence of events into motion. With four simple phone calls, he would have the mystery solved.

First, he would call Ran's cell phone- which he knew would be off at this time since she was at the dojo training. As planned, he left a very specific message.

"Ran? Ah, I guess you're busy. Call me back when you can, you still have my number right? Ah- bye then."

He knew she had still had it, and could even remember how touched she was when he'd sent it to her cell phone. It was a risk, a very large one, but he knew it meant the world to her and that made it all worthwhile. But he already had two things to prevent her from calling him back before the other three calls were made. One, she would still be training for at least another thirty minutes. Then, he would make sure that in the ten minute span after her training was over that his line was busy. This gave him a clear forty minutes to set up the rest of his plan.

Dialing a second number, he waited for them to answer. Sure enough, within moments the cheerful voice of Sonoko came over the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Sonoko, I'm kind of in a rush and I can't seem to get Ran to answer her phone. I thought she might be out with you and had it turned off."

Sonoko raised an eyebrow, "Shinichi?"

"Um, yah?"

"Wow- it really is you! I haven't talked to you in forever. Of course, Ran is always talking about you, you know."

Embarrassing as it might be, Shinichi was glad to hear Sonoko start in on her ramblings. If he'd predicted correctly, she'd give him a good head-start on his mystery for this day.

"Ahh- she does?"

"Neh, Shinichi- you'd better get her something really fancy for this Golden week this year. After making her wait so long, she deserves the best gift out there!"

"Hey now, I'm busy with a case. And stop acting like we're some married couple! We're just friends..."

"Right, right," Sonoko murmured, her eyes lighting up as an idea hit her, "But you should really treat her to something nice, Shinichi. Perhaps one of those promise rings that are all the rage right now. Ahh- how I'd love to have a boyfriend to share one of those with. Ran's so lucky!"

"Oi, oi- don't you have Makoto?" He thought to himself.

"Errr- well, I've got to go. If you see Ran, tell her I called."

"I'll make sure to let her know you send your love, Shinichi," Sonoko chirped back as the phone clicked off.

Sighing, he hoped that Sonoko didn't come up with too outrageous a tale about how poor Shinichi was so love-sick that he'd called her to beg that she send his heartfelt wishes to his beloved Ran. Shaking his head, a bead of sweat ran down his face.

"You know...I wouldn't put that past Sonoko. Ah- damnit. At least I've got one lead.

And with that, he adjusted his voice changer to another pitch and dialed the third number.

"Hello?" A girl's voice answered.

"Ah, Kazuha. I have sort of an awkward question for you if you aren't too busy at the moment," Conan said, using Heiji's voice.

"Oi- Heiji, what is it? It better not be something stupid."

"Actually, it's Kudo that asked me to ask you. Seems like he's desperate to get Ran the perfect gift this year and he thought that maybe you'd heard her mention something."

Kazuha tapped her chin, "Well, there was that one day when I visited Tokyo to do some early Golden week shopping..."

"Anything Kudo could use?"

"Ahou, I'm getting to that. There were some dresses here and there, and I remember pointing out those cute promise rings that all the couples are getting anymore," She remarked, clearing her throat as if to make a subtle point to Heiji, "She got all flustered when I mentioned that Shinichi should get her one. You know- a promise that he'll get back from that case in one piece."

"Did you see which type she liked? Maybe we can talk Kudo into that."

"Heiji, I really don't think Shinichi will be able to get her a gold ring with a ruby on it."

"Ahh, so neechan has expensive tastes," Heiji's voice replied, inwardly Shinichi winced at the thought of the price.

"Just tell him to get her one if he can. There are different types of promises, so if he's being a chicken he can pretend that it's just as a friend."

"Aha, okay. Thanks Kazuha," He moved to end the phone call when Kazuha's voice stopped him.

"Oh and Heiji?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"I think blue's a pretty color, don't you?"

And before he could clarify if that was indeed an attempt to get a sapphire ring or not, Kazuha hung up.

Sighing to himself, Conan checked the time. He'd expected that Kazuha would start making not-so-subtle demands if Heiji called asking about Golden week gifts on Shinichi's behalf. That's why Conan had already allowed time for the fourth call to be placed. A call, he was certain due to Heiji's anger at him for getting Kazuha's hopes up, which would surely last at least ten minutes past Ran's training time.

Needless to say, Heiji was less than pleased to hear that not only had Conan called Kazuha using his voice but that now his female friend was itching for a promise ring herself that Golden week.

"Sorry, Hattori. It is like she said though- it can be a promise between friends."

"Right. That ahou won't let me live this down if I don't come through with it. And how is either of us going to get the money for this, Kudo?"

"Hey, I didn't say that I was getting it. If we have to, we'll have settle for something similar but cheaper. At least that way it looks like we tried to get them what they wanted but just didn't have the money to do so. That's not so bad, is it?"

"Kudo... you'd better come up with something on this fast or we're both going to be getting nothing but a beating for Golden week."

"I know, I know. It's just Ran deserves this," He said, voice growing serious, "After this last year, after last Golden week, after everything that's happened..."

"Oi, I get the idea. Just next time, let me know beforehand if you call around using my voice. I like to know what I'm saying."

"All right. And if I find anything else out about what the girls want for Golden week, I'll let you know since I got you into this. Talk to you later, Hattori."

"Later, Kudo."

Hanging up, Shinichi waited. One, two, three- and as the second hand hit the forth second the phone rang.

"Right on time, Ran."

Sitting himself down and making sure he had everything ready to run home as Conan once the conversation was over, Shinichi answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Shinichi?" The familiar voice came over the line.

"Yah. I guess I called when you were at practice."

"Mmm, that's okay. I'm just glad you answered when I called back. Earlier the line was busy."

He smiled at that, "Ah, yes. Just something with this case I'm on."

Ran laughed, "That's always it, isn't it?"

"A detective's work is never done. But um," He swallowed as he grew slightly nervous, "I was wondering what you might like for Golden week this year? I'm not sure if I can promise much but I'd like to at least get you something."

"Oh, so you'll be busy?" Her voice turned somber and Shinichi knew he had his real answer already.

"I'll do everything in my power to be there, Ran. But I must admit, what to get you has somehow escaped my powers of deduction."

She laughed at that, but still managed to change subjects, "Oh, anything's fine. But- well, how are you? You're doing okay, right?"

"Ah yah. I'm good. What about you?"

And so continued one of their usual conversations- Ran talking about everything that had happened since they'd last spoken. The cases she'd been on, the goings on at school, and various other chit-chat.

Realizing that if he held out much longer, Ran might start to worry about where Conan was- Shinichi decided to make a graceful exit.

"Well, I've got to go."

"Already? It's only been..."

"An hour and twenty-three minutes," He replied with a laugh.

"Mou! Don't act like that's a bad thing!"

"All right, but you can sure talk my ear off if I let you."

She fell silent for a moment, "Well that's just because I..."

Hoping that it might help make up for the fact he couldn't promise Shinichi's appearance on Golden week, he quietly spoke up.

"It's okay. I've missed you too, Ran."

"Shinichi..."

He laughed nervously, "And in case you're wondering about a gift for me, just promise that no matter what happens you'll not be an idiot and go about crying out in the cold, okay?"

Tears welling in her eyes at his oddly-worded concern, Ran nodded, "O-okay, I promise."

"Good," He replied with a smile, "Bye, Ran. Take care."

"You too," She echoed back and then the two phones were hung up.

And at that moment, it was perfectly clear to both of them that aside from any material gift, there was one thing they wanted most of all.

"All I want is..."

"To see your face..."

"Smiling at me."

"...And that would be- the best gift of all."

The second it was announced in the papers, two young men knew they were doomed.

Five golden treasures, each featuring a priceless jewel, to be exhibitioned at the Orikasa Gallery tomorrow night. A one night engagement only.

Conan knew this would mean KID would be there, and Kaito knew his small detective rival would be sure to make an appearance. But despite their child-like excitement over finally having a challenge worthy of their full-attention, the timing was horrible.

Namely, if they went- as fate was practically taunting them to do- they would have two very angry girlfriends. (Girlfriends- they would both be quick to note- that were merely girls that were good childhood friends and nothing else. And their deep blushes when stating such things were not a sign of denial for their feelings. Nope, not at all.)

Kaito had promised to go with Aoko to a movie. Inwardly, he wondered if she'd been tipped off about the jewels before the papers and had purposely set up the date to once again prove he wasn't KID. But thinking back to her scarlet face as she murmured the request, perhaps an innocent date was all it was.

Dropping the newspaper, something finally clicked in Kaito's head.

"Wait...then does this constitute as a real date?"

And finding that more intimidating than Aoko discovering he was KID, Kuroba Kaito quickly ran downstairs to contact Jii. What did you do when you had five jewels to steal and a date to be on anyways?

Shinichi, on the other hand, was in a similar predicament. After getting dragged along with the Shounen Tantei to a very mediocre children's movie, he was so bored that Ran had invited him out for dinner and a movie that Friday. Since he'd been stuck in the body of a seven year old for longer than he'd care to think about, the thought of getting to go out- with Ran, alone- was strangely exciting. It seemed like all the times before, someone always had a tag-along. Whether it was Kogoro, Sonoko or the Shounen Tantei- it always seemed like someone had to ruin it. But this time, it would just be the two of them and no one else.

And yet, it had to fall the same night that Kaitou KID was certain to try and steal those jewels. Folding the paper and placing it aside, Shinichi's mind aptly decided to point out the one little detail he'd missed.

Ran, although she was offering it to Conan and not him, had invited him out for dinner and a movie. If he was in his real body, this would have been a date. And with that thought in mind, and a blush on his cheeks, Conan muttered to himself and went to go talk to the Professor. What was a young man stuck as a child supposed to do on a night that could be- should be- a date and also save five valuable jewels from an international thief?

After much deliberation and planning, they were ready. For the heist that is- for the date... not so much. Conan tried to distract himself by deducing KID's riddle, which had just been issued to the police.

Tonight my friends, I'll take a beautiful hostage for a ride

My final verse shall be time's righteous yearly guide

From the veil of darkness, I shall pull forth a golden light

And wish a Good night to all, and to all a good night

\- Kaitou KID

It was easier than most, Conan noted- probably since KID had to issue it right away.

Line one- meant someone would be taken hostage to distract them. Line two, meant the time of the crime was in the final verse of the riddle.

Line three, noted what and where. The golden light was the five treasures, no doubt. And the veil of darkness- was two things. One- the sun setting and two- the gallery closing at five that evening, leaving the displays dark.

As for the when and where, that was easy. From the first line, it was already clear that KID was acting that very night. As for the time, that was in the last line which paralleled the ending of "Twas the Night Before Golden week." After some quick thinking, Conan pinpointed the trick. The year of the publication for that poem was 1823, which converted to military time is 18:23. This set the heist time at a little after six that evening.

Conan frowned, once again looking to the window. Did KID somehow know that he was going on a date with Ran and that they were planning on seeing a movie at six? Or was it just happenstance that it fell then?

Either way, now with the riddle solved- his mind drifted back to his other problem. How to face off against KID without deserting Ran...

Kaito barely even noticed the news talking about KID's latest heist note as he headed into his house that afternoon. Having set up the whole thing moments after reading the paper the day before, he was now just getting around to dealing with the more delicate matters of the heist. Namely, how to safely use his date for that evening as the hostage mentioned in the first part of his riddle.

It was the only thing he and Jii could come up with that would keep Aoko's suspicions low. Simply make sure she wasn't in the theater to notice that Kaito had gone missing. It was a believable ploy that was for certain. Kaito had to laugh a bit to himself as he imagined Nakamori-keibu's face on seeing KID show up with his daughter, Aoko, in his arms. Oh yes, that just might make the whole night worth it.

Of course, he knew a certain chibi-tantei would be there. Then- deciding that he'd give Aoko at a night at the movies KID-style; he went about setting up a few more props for his heist that night.

At five sharp, two couples left their homes for a night out. Kaito was trying to remain composed, but he found that Aoko's choice of attire had him slightly unsettled.

"So I guess...this really is a date-date..." He thought to himself, his eyes tracing down blue dress she wore.

"What?" She snapped, noticing him staring.

"Just thinking that perhaps I'm under-dressed," He murmured with a shrug, "Ah well- no problem."

With a 'poff' his outfit changed into a nicer set of dress slacks, shirt and a jacket. Holding out a blue flower with a blush, he inwardly wished that his heist could be any night but that night.

"K-Kaito!"

"You care to tell me what prompted this little date?"

He had to ask. If it was another 'prove Kaito isn't KID' ploy he had no reason to play nice. But if it was genuine then... well he had valid reason for the way his heart was racing.

"Um...well," Aoko fidgeted, "Actually, it's because of Hakuba."

"What?" Kaito snapped.

"He offered to take me out, saying that it wasn't right for a girl like me to be all alone right before Golden week. And since my Dad's always busy with KID's heists well..." Aoko blushed, "So um- I told him I couldn't go because I already had a date with someone else."

Kaito frowned, of course Hakuba would somehow know that the jewels were coming into town that Friday. And of course, he probably said just the right words to prompt Aoko into saying she had a date with Kaito instead. Running a hand through his bangs, he awkwardly smiled.

"I'm going to get Hakuba for this, but it's not Aoko's fault. She still deserves the date she asked for..."

"Well I have to agree with him on one thing."

Aoko looked up, as she felt Kaito's hand on her shoulder.

"You shouldn't be alone right before Golden week. Come on, let's go."

And as they both smiled nervously, they started to head down the street.

Meanwhile, another couple had just left their home for a night out as well. And much like Kaito, Conan was finding that this was going to be quite an interesting night.

Ran was wearing a long, blue dress. One, that Shinichi just had to notice, fit her perfectly. On seeing Conan blushing and looking away, Ran had to withhold a laugh.

"I'm sorry, Conan-kun. Is this too much? I can go change..."

"No! It's okay, it's just..." He berated his mind to come up with something intelligent sounding for an excuse, "Won't you get cold?"

Ran shook her head and picked up a coat, "All right, that better?"

Conan nodded, and swallowed down his nerves as he felt Ran taking his hand.

"Shall we go?"

"Mmhm!" He replied. And with that, they were off.

Slightly prior to six that evening, Kaito and Conan made sure to arrive at the movie theater closest to the Orikasa gallery. Conan about tripped when he swore he spotted Kaito walking into the theater, but he quickly shrugged it off.

"KID wouldn't be at the movie less than an hour before his heist... would he?"

Kaito, on the other hand, didn't notice that his little detective rival was there as well. Unbeknownst to either of them, their well laid plans just so happened to coincide.

Having taken a seat next to their date for the evening, both Kaito and Conan inconspicuously checked the time. They'd been warned, by Jii and Agasa respectively, that if they were caught constantly checking the time- the girl would think they weren't enjoying the date and were eager for it to be over. Not wanting to give off that impression (or face Aoko or Ran's wrath) they were readily prepared to answer that they were doing this simply to tell how long until the movie started.

At five 'til six, they acted. Both- in a very non-suspicious manner- offered to go to the concession stand and get food and drinks. Under the ploy that they wanted good seats, they'd rushed the girls into the theater first before stopping for the staple diet of popcorn and carbonated beverages, giving them the excuse to get it later.

As they exited the theater- they were now free to put their escapes into action. Standing at the concession stand, Kaito noticed the familiar little boy headed towards the bathroom. Once he was certain no one was watching, he followed.

"Ran, I need you to send Conan immediately to the Orikasa gallery. We think we've gotten a trap set up for KID but as much as I hate to say it- we need that brat's small size to set it up. Ah- gotta run. Please hurry."

Conan finished recording the message in Kogoro's voice and was just about to head back to the movie when he noticed a certain white top hat outside the bathroom stall. Flinging open the door, he wasn't too surprised to see Kaitou KID standing before him.

"So, that was you I saw come in with your girlfriend."

"Ah, so you as well are here?" He asked. Knowing that the movie airing was a romance, Kaito quickly surmised that Conan had to be there with Ran. Laughing a bit at their predicament, he spoke, "They certainly had terrible timing on this date-thing, didn't they?"

"Yeah," Conan replied, casually reaching for his stun-gun watch.

"One minute..." KID said.

"Huh?"

Waving his hand and letting a dove appear, he replied, "Consider it your thanks to me for that dove the other day."

Conan sighed. He had been thankful for that tip-off. Now he had to owe up for it...

Begrudgingly, he let KID go, "Fine. Starting now."

KID flashed a grin and dashed out. Not about to let him get too far, Conan followed. He had planned on waiting in the lobby a moment before going back to Ran with the fake call from her Father, but that all changed as he noticed KID disappear back into the theater. Suddenly, he understood the first line of the riddle...

Tonight my friends, I'll take a beautiful hostage for a ride.

"So that's how," Conan noted, putting together the last piece of the puzzle, "He's planning on taking Aoko with him so she doesn't find out."

Inside the theater, Kaito was finding it harder than he first figured it would be to find Aoko in the dark.

"Hmm... that's strange. I thought we were sitting over there..."

Kaito surveyed the theater quickly, finally spotting the brown-haired girl in the blue dress, he swooped in to pick her up in his arms.

Of course by then, the audience had noticed their famous intruder and gasped. KID tipped his hat and ran out. Turning to his hostage, he smiled.

"I do hope you'll pardon me, but I believe I owe your Father a visit."

As he emerged from the dark theater, a Kaito-dummy fell to the ground as if it had been knocked down by KID opening the door. But as he glanced up from his alibi to make sure Aoko had bought it, Kaito realized he'd made once big mistake.

"This is..."

"Ran!" Conan's voice yelled out.

Struggling a bit against her captor, Ran froze on recognizing just who it was that held her.

"Kaitou KID..."

And suddenly, whether they knew each other's identities or not, whether they were destined enemies due to their roles and detective and thief- none of that mattered anymore.

Shinichi inwardly vowed, "If she gets hurt, KID- there will be hell to pay."

The heist from there on in was simply put- the most chaotic chase the city had ever seen.

Kaito had bolted from the theater, knowing that mistake or not- his set time of 6:23 was getting near. Taking to the sky on his glider, he smiled down at his unexpected hostage.

"I wouldn't try anything karate-wise up here, Mouri-san. It might be a bit dangerous for both of us."

Ran sighed, knowing that he was right.

"Well then, can you at least tell me why I'm getting taken hostage? It would have made more sense if you'd taken Nakamori-keibu's daughter, wouldn't it?"

"Ooh, she's good," KID noted, figuring that being around Shinichi she'd picked some things up.

"Actually, that was who I had planned on taking," He explained, landing them atop a building, "But even a thief like myself sometimes has trouble finding things in the dark."

"You mean..."

Kaito looked off towards the gallery, "Yah. Nakamori Aoko is back in that movie theater right now."

But little did Kaito know, that he had a strange ally in his detective rival.

Amidst the chaos at the theater, Conan had managed to find Aoko and drag her along. Playing the part of an innocent child, he spoke of how he knew her Father was the detective after KID and how he hoped that as Nakamori-keibu's daughter, she'd help him save Ran from the phantom thief.

Glad to be of help- and anti-KID mode on in full force- Aoko rushed along with the small boy towards the location of the heist.

Eyes set on the gallery up ahead, Conan smiled at his trump card.

"Aoko might have gotten suspicious otherwise, you know. Looks like now you owe me for covering you, KID."

Arriving on the scene, the two found that an elaborate production all its own was already in progress. Just as the clock hit twenty-three after, a huge array of lights illuminated a nearby building.

KID had made sure to call off the cops using Nakamori-keibu's voice moments before, allowing him the chance to appear in full glory with his hostage.

Sure enough, Conan noted as he and Aoko came rushing up, Ran was up there with KID.

Her outfit had been changed to a long, flowing white gown; fitting for her role that evening.

And silently, Conan had to admit KID had sure gone all out on this one.

Atop the building was a giant inflatable King Kong that held Ran tight, and so, even her karate moves just bounced off the giant ape's rubbery surface.

The girl intended for the role had found her Father amidst the police forces. And now, Aoko had taken to berating KID from her Father's side; much too caught up in the chase to wonder about where a certain Kuroba Kaito could be.

Squeezing his way amidst the crowd, Conan tugged on Aoko's dress.

"Miss Nakamori?"

"Ah- little boy. What is it?"

"I think I know how to save Ran, can you help me? We might even catch KID!"

At those last words, Aoko's eyes lit up.

"Daddy, we're going to go see if we can help the hostage," She called out, ignoring her Father's protests from behind her.

Kaito set up a dummy with a recording up by the giant ape and winked a goodbye to Ran. To all the cops below, KID still stood there taunting them- but the real KID was actually headed for the gallery and the five jewels.

Pausing outside one of the doors to the main display room, he set two things into motion. First, he set the KID dummy atop the building flying off with a remote control glider. Then, he quickly snatched up the radio and dispatched a message to the cops inside the gallery.

"This is Nakamori. Get outside now- KID's escaping! We can only assume he's already gotten the real jewels and those you're guarding are fakes. Hurry, we need to stop him!"

Within seconds, the guards stampeded out of the gallery. Sauntering in, KID quickly switched out the jewels for his prepared fakes and disguised himself as a police officer. Rushing back out, he headed to the rooftop to act as if he was saving the hostage.

"Wait here," Conan instructed Aoko as they reached the top of the stairwell.

"But your friend is right outside, shouldn't we..."

Conan smirked, "You want to see KID, right? Then just stay here and quietly wait. He'll come."

The two waited in the shadows silently. Moments later, hurried footsteps were heard coming up the stairs and Conan gestured Aoko to stand away from the door to the roof and stay quiet.

"Please move, boy. We must save the hostage," The official sounding voice boomed.

But Conan wasn't about to be tricked like the others.

"I'm quite sure Ran-neechan can handle herself. Wouldn't you say so, Kaitou KID?"

The false-officer paused on the stairs, and knowing that Conan wasn't easily fooled, he gave in and with a 'poff' changed back to KID's white attire.

"I suppose I can't get past you that easily, Tantei-kun."

"I take it you were too rushed to make this one actually challenging for me. A bit preoccupied with something else, perhaps?"

KID shrugged, "It's the holiday season. We're all a bit busy, wouldn't you say?"

Noticing the noise from the other side of the door, Conan stepped aside just in time as the door was kicked in. Sure enough, Ran stood there smirking at her triumph.

"Your monkey has one weakness," Ran noted walking forward, "He's not fond of sharp objects."

Holding up one of her bobby pins from her hair, Ran smiled as she stood beside Conan.

"Ah, but you still have to get past me, which can be rather tricky since-" In an instant, KID disappeared in a screen of smoke only to appear moments later behind them by the doorway to the roof, "I have a habit of slipping away."

"KID, don't move!" Conan yelled, turning to face him. Hoping he could get this solved smoothly, Shinichi quickly came up with the answer.

"Ran-neechan, hurry down to the street and find Nakamori-keibu and your Father. Tell them KID is still up here on the roof."

She nodded and rushed off, white dress trailing behind her.

"Something you want to say to me in private, Tantei-kun?" KID asked, knowing he still had the advantage.

"Aoko- now!"

In a quick dash, KID felt two arms wrapping around behind him. His eyes widened and he looked frantically to Conan.

"Boy, how could you-" He cut off his accusation as he noticed Aoko fall limp. Turning quickly to cradle her in his arms, Kaito noticed Conan lowering his stun-gun watch.

"Sorry. I couldn't help but at least give you one good scare," he remarked with a laugh.

"Oi, this isn't funny. She's been plotting KID's death for years. I don't want to know what she'd do once she realized who KID really was..."

"Well, you'd better make sure that that other person is here when she wakes up then so she doesn't get suspicious, right?"

Realizing that Conan had protected his identity by bringing Aoko along and allowing him this chance, Kaito smiled.

"Okay, this is just getting crazy. I guess now I owe you."

Conan shrugged as he started down the stairs, "That's what it looks like to me."

"Thanks."

"Just remember to at least give her a taste of glory," He remarked, then as an afterthought, "Oh, and Ran might want her dress back."

"Ah yes..."

He tossed Conan a blue rose, which transformed mid-air into Ran's blue dress.

"See ya around, Tantei-kun."

"Same to you, KID."

As soon as he was sure he was alone with Aoko, Kaito quickly transformed back into the outfit he'd worn to the theatre. And like the small detective had suggested, he made sure to let Aoko have her moment of glory.

Shaking her lightly, he smiled when she opened her eyes.

"Aoko! You're okay."

"Kaito?" She questioned, slightly disoriented.

"I heard a detective's daughter was taken by KID and I couldn't find you in the theater so I rushed over here. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Aoko sat up abruptly, looking around. "Where's KID? Last thing I remember I'd almost had him!"

Kaito rubbed the back of his head, "I'm not sure, Aoko. A little boy said he'd last seen you up here and so I ran up to help. I found you lying on the ground unconscious."

Muttering curses under her breath, she frowned, "Damnit, he must have used something to knock me out. And Father would have been so..."

Her words died on her lips as she noticed a small item tangled around her fingers.

"This is..."

"Aoko- isn't that..."

"It's KID's monocle, I can't believe it! I was this close to catching KID! Daddy will be so proud!" She flung her arms around Kaito's neck in excitement. "Thanks for looking out for me, Kaito."

Nervously, Aoko pecked a quick kiss on his cheek and both of them blushed.

"Well, it's not like I'd want you at the mercy of that thief..." Kaito noted, inwardly pondering the irony of that statement.

Aoko grinned, "Don't worry, I can take him. Next time I'll get his hat! And after that, his jacket. And then, maybe even his pants!"

Kaito laughed nervously, "Hey now... isn't that getting a bit too personal?"

The duo was interrupted as the slew of police officers stormed up the stairs. Aoko quickly explained how KID had narrowly escaped her and ran off. But much like she'd predicted- her Father was infinitely proud that his daughter had gotten so close to capturing KID.

Shaking his head at the strange Father-Daughter bonding, Kaito cleared his throat.

"Um, Aoko? I know it got a bit interrupted and all at the movies but- could I still walk you home?"

She turned red and some of the officers whistled. Handing KID's monocle over to her Father so he could go back to the office and celebrate their near victory, Aoko nodded and took Kaito's arm.

"Sure."

Outside the Mouri Detective Agency, two others were bringing to a close their interrupted date. Ran had taken the time to change back into her original dress- although, she'd opted to keep the white one just in case she ever needed it.

Turning to the young boy who held her hand, she smiled.

"Well, that was quite some evening wasn't it Conan-kun?" She had that air to her voice that made him feel like she was once again onto something.

"Mmmhmm," He replied, eying her awkwardly.

"And look- we're back home."

"Yah...um, we are," Conan murmured, hoping that it was not going to be yet another situation where she'd figured out he was really Shinichi.

"But there's one thing that I need to do before our date's over."

Conan gulped. This was it- she'd pieced it together again after reasoning that if KID could disguise as anyone, who's to say that the times Shinichi and Conan both appeared that one of the two was a fake. Yep, he was doomed. Completely doomed. And right before Golden week too, he thought miserably.

"No presents from Ran this year. She'll return what she's bought and use the money to get something large and heavy to hit me with..."

"Close your eyes," She said in a sing-song voice. Obviously, she was up to no good.

But hoping that it wasn't one of her karate moves he was about to get hit with, he obliged. Swallowing nervously to himself, he felt her gently lifting the glasses from his face.

"This is it. I'm doomed..."

He flinched as he felt her hands gripping his sides- picking him up, no doubt to punt him several feet. But much to his surprise, she remained gentle until he felt her lips softly pressing against his cheek.

No longer able to keep his eyes shut, he blinked them open and blushed furiously. Ran pulled back blushing lightly herself, but with an undeniable smirk.

"A goodnight kiss, it's custom right?" Ran's eyes looked through him, right into the teenager behind the child's facade.

He nodded mutely as she sat him down, still too stunned to risk speaking. With a quick turn, Ran started into the building.

"Now don't tell Shinichi because he might get terribly jealous," She remarked, "Although if he's going to be busy another Golden week then he downright deserves it!"

Conan winced, quickly trying to cover Shinichi, "I- I'm sure Shinichi-niisan would love to be here instead, Ran-neechan."

Ran turned, her eyes softening as a content smile played on her features, "Thank you, Conan-kun. I'm glad to know that someone's looking out for me."

She continued up the stairs humming to herself, and Conan couldn't help but smile. Perhaps she knew, but right now he was just glad to see her happy. His parents had warned him after all that Ran might know more than she let on and this just meant he'd have to start being more careful.

"Now, if only I could cover for Shinichi missing this Golden week ..."

The flutter of dove wings behind him caused him to jolt around as a familiar cloaked figure smiled down at him.

"Ah, young love at it's finest," He remarked, lowering himself down via his glider.

"KID!"

"Don't worry, I've just come to return something I'd borrowed," He tossed a bag over, "Check them over a thousand times, those are the originals."

Conan yanked the bag open and noticed the five golden treasures gleaming up at him. Quietly, he reached into his pocket and sent a signal to the police via his cell phone.

"Not what you're looking for, I take it?" He countered, hoping he could stall the thief there until the police arrived.

"Oh, and one more thing my small detective friend..."

The magician held up his hands- showing both front and back. But as he spread open his fingers, a gold piece of jewelry appeared between each one.

"Consider it an apology for disturbing your night at the movies," He said tossing one over to Conan.

Catching it in his hand, he looked down at the small ring.

"It's from my personal- and perfectly legal- collection. It should be just her size."

Conan's eyes darted up to the window where he could see Ran's silhouette entering the office.

"good night," KID murmured and in a flash of red and green tinsel he was gone.

Watching as he disappeared back into the night, Conan shook his head and looked down at the ring.

"Now we're even again, right KID?"

And slinging the bag of the stolen treasures over his shoulder, he started up the stairs.

The next morning, the headline spoke of how a young boy and Nakamori-keibu's daughter were the ones to thwart KID's heist this time. Conan had handed over the bag to Kogoro the night before, saying he'd gotten it away from KID when Aoko had attacked him. For some reason, Ran seemed to be rather touched by this and at first Conan couldn't figure out why.

But after her Father left to take the jewels back to the owner, Ran pulled Conan aside.

"You didn't have to do that, Conan-kun."

"Huh? Do what?"

Ran smiled, "Waiting until after we were home to solve the case like that. I bet if you're anything like Shinichi you were itching all the way home to close the case."

Conan blinked, "Ahh- well, after all that happened... I just thought that..."

He fell silent as Ran placed a finger over his mouth, "It's okay. Thank you. Sometimes I wish Shinichi could be as mature as you and know when to put ladies first."

Inwardly, Shinichi had to laugh at himself, "She's right. Leave it to me to kick my on ass at being a gentleman..."

And with a silent vow to be better about that- whether as Conan or as Shinichi, he returned to his current dilemma at hand.

"And because of all these cases I still haven't gotten her Golden week gift from Conan. Ahh- being two different people sucks..."

It was Saturday morning, and Golden week started. Much to his dismay, Conan had gotten dragged out along with Genta and Mitsuhiko for the day. Apparently, Ayumi's Mother had taken the girls shopping for Golden week gifts.

Shinichi had to stifle a laugh at the thought of Haibara on a stereotypical girl's shopping day. But he himself was no more free from the day-to-day trials of being a child than she was. With the girls gone, Mitsuhiko had suggested a boy's day to counter it.

Much to Conan's dismay, Ran had taken the phone-call and told Mitsuhiko that she'd bring Conan to the cafe the trio was meeting at. This of course, left no room for him to make an excuse and spend a day doing something productive- like searching for clues about the Black Organization or re-reading A Study in Scarlet for the hundredth time.

Sitting around the small cafe table, the three ordered up warm mugs full of hot chocolate and sat about talking about what they wanted for Golden week and what they were getting for others.

But the real trouble began when the subject turned to girls.

"So, Conan- you getting any girl something nice for Golden week?" Genta asked with poorly disguised jealousy.

Not thinking as he wiped the chocolate froth from his mouth, Conan shrugged, "Just Ran..."

Genta and Mitsuhiko exchanged a glance before stammering out their questions.

"You mean you don't like Ayumi-chan?"

"Or even Haibara?"

Realizing his mistake, Conan waved his hands, "Ah-no no! I like them just..."

"Not like that?" Genta asked with a grin.

Mitsuhiko elbowed Genta in the side, "Maybe he only goes for the older girls."

Conan slumped down in his seat as the two others ignored his protests and continued to speculate on his love-life. After several whispers between the two, he heard them cheer. Blinking back to attention, Conan was already dreading what new adventure they'd planned for the day.

"So it's settled then," Genta said taking the lead, "Mitsuhiko can get Haibara a gift. I'll get one for Ayumi and Conan can get one for his high-school girlfriend."

Smacking his forehead, Shinichi lamented his predicament once again.

"Oi, oi... aren't boys this age supposed to be afraid of girls or something? Ah well, I do need to get Ran a gift from Conan- their stupid joking aside..."

"All right! Shounen Tantei shopping mystery!" Mitsuhiko chimed in as the boys paid the waitress and headed down the street, "Puzzle number one- what to get the girls..."

"Hmmm..." Genta frowned, "Well there's a new Kamen Yaiba toy out."

"Genta, these are supposed to be gifts for them- not ones we want ourselves."

"Oh."

Resigning himself to the adventure, Conan shook his head, "Let's just head to the mall and look around."

"That's our Conan, always one to come up with the best idea!" Mitsuhiko replied, proudly patting Conan on the back.

And as they headed down the street, Genta and Mitsuhiko started singing 'Jingle Bells.' Luckily for anyone around, Conan wasn't in the mood to sing.

They'd looked at toys, clothing and everything in between. Finally, the three boys found themselves nervously standing near the jewelry displays.

"I'm not sure I have the money for this, Genta..."

Genta pulled out his pockets, "Yah, neither do I."

But despite their distress, Conan seemed to be rather intent on observing the selection of necklaces. Thanks to an I.O.U. from KID, he'd gotten a fairly nice ring- something he was still having Professor Agasa check for legitimacy- but he still needed one more gift for Ran. And what better, he noted on looking at the gold necklaces, than something that would match his other gift?

"Oi, Conan- do older girls really have this expensive of taste?"

Mitsuhiko nodded sagely, "Of course, they expect jewels and clothes and all kinds of things! That's what they're nothing but trouble."

"But...then why are we getting gifts for Ayumi and Haibara?"

He paused, "Um...because we like them?"

"Oh..."

Checking the money in his pockets- and thanking his parents for sending him a little extra secretly that month- Conan pointed to a nice gold chain.

"Ma'am, how much is that one?"

"Ah, it's only 3,433 yen. It's on sale today."

"I might have to use it as Shinichi's gift if that ring falls through... Ahh, there goes all my money..."

Biting his lip and figuring it was the least he could do if he couldn't turn back in time- Shinichi nodded, "I'll take it."

"Wow- you really like Miss Ran!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed.

"I wish I had that kind of money..."

"Um... it's just a thank you since she's watching me since my parents are away..." Conan muttered, blush betraying his intent.

The two other boys exchanged a knowing look, "Uh-huh. Sure."

Making his purchase, Shinichi sighed. Sure- older girls were expensive to buy for. But when you had to cover for the fact you might not make in person, it sometimes was the best you could do.

Ignoring the taunting he got the rest of the trip out, Conan made sure to tease right back as the other boys selected their gifts- a teddy bear for Ayumi and a book for Haibara. As they walked back to Professor Agasa's, Conan couldn't help but think of Ran's face on seeing his gift.

"She'll be surprised, then touched, then probably start crying because she's an idiot like that," He laughed inwardly, "I suppose that's what makes it all worth the trouble of buying it though. Just to see her face light up like that, makes it all worth it."

There had been a decent amount of snow falling throughout the day. It had started light, drifting down in large fluffy flakes and speckling the ground. About mid-way through the day, it started to really come down and by early evening- it was perfect weather for playing out in the newly created snowdrifts.

This, of course, meant that the Shounen Tantei was geared up and ready to drag its two more solitary members out for some fun.

Knocking loudly on the Professor's door, they found Haibara by the computer and quickly rushed her into a coat and out the door. Meanwhile, Professor Agasa finished up his conversation with Shinichi via phone.

"They're going to be headed your way soon," He warned as the stampede in the room behind him died down.

Conan sighed, "And we still haven't worked out something to get Shinichi back on Golden week..."

"Perhaps we should look into building a fully equipped robot that you could operate."

"I think Ran might notice that something's wrong if I'm not dodging her punches, Professor."

"Ah- true true. Well, don't worry too much Shinichi. If we need to set up a power-outage and use the darkness to hide your face like last time- then that will have to do."

"Yah, I know... I just wish I could think up something else."

But before the two could discuss the matter further, the loud pounding on the door indicated that the Shounen Tantei had arrived.

Out into the snow Conan went and into the childhood wonderland of a snow-filled day. This of course, led to the usual snowball fight. And as Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta teamed up against Haibara and Conan- it was looking to be an all-out war. Little did they know, their opponents had several years experience...

The battle hadn't lasted long. Between Haibara calculating the perfect angle to throw them at to Conan making snow-soccer balls to kick, the three others found themselves quickly disenchanted by the game.

Currently, they'd taken to making snow angels in the snow bank a passing plow had created. Lying back against the cool, white powder; Shinichi let his mind wander to how he'd done this many years before.

They were probably about the same age- he reasoned, thinking back to the days of his own childhood with Ran. He could remember the snowball fights the two waged on each other until their parents came to usher them back inside shivering and sneezing. Thinking on their current positions, he clearly recalled a very specific snow angel...

"Ran! What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm making a snow-angel. What does it look like, silly?"

"Ha! How can you make a snow angel when you're so far from an angel?"

Shinichi winced as one of Ran's legs kicked into his shin.

"Ouch!"

"What were you saying again?"

"Nothing..."

Plopping down in the snow next to her, his mind began to wander to his take on the childhood tradition.

"You know, I bet Sherlock Holmes could tell a lot about a person by the imprints they left in the snow."

"Oh?" Ran questioned, sitting up.

Nodding, Shinichi smirked as he pointed to the imprint behind Ran.

"See- I can tell that you have long brown hair, since some of your hair would get stuck to the snow and left behind and a light indention is left in the snow as to the length. Also, the basic make of your clothes is also documented."

Standing and pacing about the snow-angel, Shinichi put his hand to his chin in thought.

"I can tell you're right-handed because the swoop of this angel's wing is a bit deeper and taller than the other because your right-arm is stronger from constant use."

"And as we can see," Ran butted in, clearing her throat, "Next to this angel was a mystery-freak."

Pointing to the imprint Shinichi had left, they could both clearly make out the imprint of a small magnifying glass that had been in Shinichi's back pocket.

But on having Ran, even teasingly, agree with him made Shinichi smile.

"See- now we just need to add one more thing..." Walking up to the top of Ran's snow angel, he reached down and drew an oval in the snow. "A halo, am I correct?"

Ran laughed, blushing a bit as she did.

"I thought you said I wasn't one, idiot."

Coughing and blushing a bit to himself, Shinichi looked away.

"Well...ahem, by my deductions it seems that perhaps this detective can be persuaded to believe otherwise."

Standing and sidling up next to Shinichi, Ran lightly tapped his leg.

"In other words, this detective has a bruised shin and wants to go back home."

The two laughed, bickered and threw a few lopsided snowballs back and forth as they walked back to their houses.

"You're coming over for Golden week, right Shinichi?" Ran asked when they reached her door.

Turning to walk home himself, he smiled, "Of course- I wouldn't miss it for anything!"

"You're thinking about her again," The modulated voice cut in.

Conan blinked his eyes open; his memories slowly fading back away as he stared up at Haibara.

"W-what?"

"Ran. I'd overheard your discussion with the Professor. So you're that eager to go through excruciating pain just to see her for a few minutes? It must be nice to be in a love like that."

"Oi, oi..."

Smirking at him as she stood, Haibara shrugged.

"Well, I'm usually not the type to encourage such things- but my sister always loved Golden week so I suppose because she was able to spend whole week with me, in her memory I could make an exception. Also consider it my birthday present for you."

Conan's eyes widened and he jumped up beside her.

"You mean, you'll..."

"I'll talk to the Professor and see what we can come up with. It'll give me a chance to test various reaction levels again if nothing else."

"...So I'm just your guinea pig after all, eh?"

"Just promise me one thing."

On seeing her turn serious, Conan did as well.

"What?"

Cracking her slight smile, Haibara looked off towards the other three children.

"Just don't do anything stupid. Birthday wouldn't be the same without another intelligent person at the table."

Walking up beside her, he nodded.

"That's a promise, Haibara. I'll be there for your guys' for my birthday as Conan too."

And as the weary group of kids headed down the streets to their respective homes, Shinichi decided that for right now- being both Conan and Shinichi wasn't so bad.

"I have important people to celebrate with both of them. And..." He thought with a wide grin, "There's nothing like getting two gifts just for being yourself."

The incriminating evidence was right there in plain sight. It was so painfully obvious that even Kogoro, while drunk and ranting about Yoko, could probably see it and laugh at how blatant the person was flaunting it.

Yet, there was nothing he could do about it. He was framed- set up by a beautiful woman with a sweet smile and a powerful karate kick. Seriously, Conan muttered under his breath, how could any person in his situation say no?

And so- there he sat atop a stool wearing the thing like a red-flag. If anyone who knew his true identity were to see it, Shinichi was well aware he would probably never live it down. Ran, on the other hand, just smiled and said he was adorable.

Adorable on Conan? Perhaps. Possible life-scarring jokes to be made by those knowing he's Shinichi? Most likely.

Glaring down once again at the offensive piece of cloth, Conan meekly tugged at it.

"Ran-neechan, do I really..."

She turned towards him, tense smile in place and a warning gleam in her eyes.

"Yes. We can't have you getting dirty and that's the only one I have that'll fit you even half-way decently."

Conan looked at it again and bit his lip. Nope, even if he was lucky enough to have no one but Ran see him like this- he himself was not ever going to live this down. Conan or not, Kudo Shinichi sitting in a pink apron and helping Ran bake cookies was just not something that could easily be forgotten.

And much like the fact he could never go anywhere without some crime happening, Conan was doomed from the start to have some unexpected guests drop by to visit.

On the first knock, Conan estimated how fast he could run to the bathroom and hide. At the second knock, he was starting to pull the apron off. But, on the third knock- his plans were thwarted in a second as Ran picked him up off the stool and walked with him to the door.

"Coming!" She called out.

Looking about frantically for an escape, Shinichi realized he was doomed the second the door swung open and none other than Hattori Heiji grinned down at him and started laughing.

"Hattori-kun!" Ran said cheerfully, then noticing that he was completely caught up in laughing at Conan, she frowned, "What's so funny?"

"Ku-Ku-" He winced and corrected himself, "Kiddo here. Pink's just not his color, Neechan."

Ran put her hands on her hips, about to give Heiji an earful when she was promptly beaten to it.

"Ahou! Why don't we stick you in and see how you like being laughed at, eh?" Kazuha retorted, walking in the door.

"Oi, oi- that's not necessary..."

Hiding a positively evil smirk, Conan looked up at the girls innocently, "Well, if Heiji-san really wants to wear it..."

Kazuha and Ran exchanged a look and moments later, Heiji found himself wearing another equally offensive pink apron.

"What - do you collect these things?"

Ran scoffed, "They were my Mother's. Come on, Kazuha-chan. Let's work on these cookies while these two help."

Heading over to the counter, the two girls started talking. Apparently, Heiji had come into Tokyo to pick up a specialty gift his Mother wanted to get for his Father. Of course, Kazuha tagged along and of course, they just had to stop by and visit Ran and Conan.

As the girls began to chat away about Golden week and the way they wanted to decorate the cookies, Conan and Heiji slipped out into the hallway. After quickly removing the pink aprons as if the fabric was on fire, they both laughed a bit at each other.

"You are so lucky you're a kid right now, Kudo. Of course, I'll remember this and make sure to remind Ran once you get around to telling her the details so she can laugh at it too."

"How very kind of you," Conan muttered sarcastically. "Now what is it you really wanted to talk about?"

Heiji shrugged, realizing that the other teen-detective had easily read his actions and knew he wanted to get alone so they could talk in private.

"Well, it's actually about something I got recently. By dove-mail, if you could call it that..."

Looking up to make sure the girls were still busy, Heiji fished something out of his pocket.

"You know anything about this necklace? The note seemed to hint that you'd be able to fill me in."

Thinking back to the incident a few days earlier with Kaitou KID and the ring he'd received- Conan knew immediately what it must be.

"Consider it apology gift from KID."

Heiji's eyes widened, "You're joking. Why would KID just drop off an expensive necklace at my house?"

"Because he owed me," Conan replied, leaning back against the door. "He probably knew if Ran got a fancy ring for Golden week, Kazuha would kill you if you didn't give her something nice too."

"Wait a second, how did KID end up owing you a ring?"

Hearing Ran calling for them, Conan shrugged and begrudgingly picked the apron up off the ground.

"It's a long story I'll have to fill you in on later. But if you're worried about it being legit, drop it by Professor Agasa's to have him check it out. The ring I got is there now, and he's still finding it classified as a legal piece of jewelry."

"So you're really going to give Ran a ring? But..." Heiji paused, smug grin on his face, "If you're still stuck as Conan won't the marriage proposal be a bit awkward?"

Conan turned bright red, glaring and stammering, "Proposal- Heiji what in the... how did you get that idea!"

Heiji laughed, "Okay, just joking with ya Kudo. Well, as fishy as it sounds I know KID's right about one thing."

"Heiji! You ahou, get back in here!" Kazuha's voice echoed from the other room.

Nodding as if that just emphasized his point, he sighed, "If Ran's getting a ring, I'll have to get Kazuha something nice after all... I mean," Heiji blushed, "Not that I was getting her something crappy or anything just- well, I think this will mean more. As her friend of course!"

Shaking his head, Conan muttered, "Whatever you say, Heiji."

Heading back in before the girls continued to yell at them, the two whispered a few last words.

"So you'll call me tonight and tell me about this KID thing, right?"

"Yah, but it might be rather late."

"Why's that?"

Conan motioned Heiji closer and he whispered in his ear. Heiji blinked before smiling down at his shrunken-friend.

"So you are going to try and make a Kudo-sized appearance for her. You sap."

"Hey!" Shinichi retorted with a blush.

Walking back in before Heiji could tease him further or Ran could continue yelling for them to come back in, Conan shook his head.

"As if you aren't getting sentimental about giving Kazuha that necklace, you dolt. Don't even start with me on being a sap."

It didn't take long before the two girls had corralled them both back into the kitchen to make the final touches on the cookies. When it came time to add decorations to the Golden week-themed cookies, the group barely managed to get started before a frosting-war broke out and they all started drawing on each other. Conan and Ran had both drawn various swiggles and dots; while Heiji and Kazuha both ended up with red and green ahous written on their faces.

As the absurdity of the situation kicked in, they all laughed; finally turning their attention to the cookies themselves.

After cleaning things up and enjoying a few of their hard-earned cookies, the four decided that they'd get together again on Golden week to celebrate. Conan smiled at that, feeling like even though only one of the three others knew who he really was- he was fitting in with the group of friends Shinichi would have if he was there.

Sending Kazuha and Heiji on their way with a small tin filled with half of the remaining cookies, Ran came over and sat down beside Conan on the couch.

"That was certainly fun, don't you think Conan-kun?"

He nodded, "Though next time, Ran-neechan- I don't think Heiji-san or I really want to wear pink aprons."

Ran laughed and ruffled Conan's hair.

"Okay, okay. No pink ones, I promise."

And as a light snowfall began again outside, Conan dozed off next to Ran on the couch. The two of them exhausted after their baking escapade and soundly asleep until Kogoro returned later that evening. Golden week wasn't there quite yet, but the spirit was alive and well already. And that alone, gave Conan the hope that his plans too would work out.

It wasn't exactly what he would have expected as an early Golden week present from his parents, that was for certain. Glaring at the two pieces of paper, Conan frowned.

"Oi, just because I look seven doesn't mean I am anymore!"

Sulky sitting down on the couch, he pondered what could have given them the idea that he wanted to sit through watching a stupid ballet. Little did he know, his answer was right there all along- namely a certain young lady with long brown hair.

She'd been getting something from her room when she heard Conan come in. And on seeing the young boy looking so down, Ran quickly went over to see what had happened.

"What's the matter Conan-kun? Did something..." Her eyes caught sight of the tickets he held and her face lit up, "Are those tickets to the sold-out performance of the Nutcracker that that famous ballet troupe is performing tonight?"

"I guess," He muttered.

"Wow! You're so lucky, Conan-kun. I'd love to go see it, but I'm sure you're already taking someone special along with you, right?"

His eyes locked with hers and he instantly knew why his parents had sent these tickets his way. Narrowing his eyes, he inwardly sighed at his parents.

"Father... if this is your way out of getting stuck watching ballet with Mother and trying to play matchmaker, I'm not the least bit amused."

"So... who's the lucky girl?" Ran questioned, sitting down beside him.

Conan just blushed, "Um...well...actually, I was going to ask you," He gulped, knowing he had to be sounding incredibly stupid at the moment, "But if you don't want to I'm sure I can just ask the Professor or someone else to come."

Ran blinked, the words sinking in; seconds later, she was hugging Conan tightly against her.

"Conan-kun, I'd love too! That's just so sweet of you," She gushed.

Shinichi just blushed brighter red and desperately wished he was not as up-close and personal with Ran's chest as he was at that moment.

"Ran-neechan..." He stammered.

Finally, she let her vice-grip go, "Ahh, I'm so sorry. I was just so excited; I got a bit carried away. Now, why don't we both go get changed and then we can stop somewhere nice and get dinner on the way."

"Won't your Dad be mad if you don't fix him something?"

"Eh, I'll leave him some instant ramen. If he gets desperate then perhaps it'll give him more incentive to go talk to Mom," Ran remarked with a wink.

Conan shook his head, "Like that's going to happen..."

They arrived at the theater a little before the show began and Ran paused to point out a few things on the poster for the performance. It was then that they noticed a familiar face standing nearby.

"Sonoko!" Ran called out, walking over to her friend, "What are you doing here?"

The girl scoffed, "Dad gave me the tickets and said I could use it for a date, but it's probably just because he didn't want to come with Mom."

Conan rolled his eyes, "Sounds like another Father I know..."

"So then, where is he?"

"He? Who he?"

"Kyougoku-san, of course."

Sonoko fidgeted, "Well..."

"Sonoko, don't tell me you brought someone else!"

"No! It's just..." She looked to her phone, "I told him to come here today, but he hasn't called back so..."

Ran put an arm around Sonoko's shoulders, "I'm sure he'll be here. He's probably just running late."

"Oh sure, you can be optimistic about it. Look at you and Shinichi! He never calls and yet you two are still practically married."

"Oi, oi...I do too call!", Shinichi thought to himself, trying desperately to hide his blush at the girls comment.

"Sonoko... This isn't about me and Shinichi, this is about you and Kyougoku-san. His heart's in the right place, even if he's a bit awkward about it. Sure, he has to run off and pursue his dream- but he still cares about you, I'm sure of it."

Wiping a stray dramatic-tear away, Sonoko perked right up, "I guess you're right. I mean, who wouldn't be positively smitten with me anyways?"

Ran laughed nervously, "Uh... right. So where are your seats?"

"It's in the executive box, probably far from your..." Sonoko paused as she noticed Ran gaping down at the tickets Conan held.

"Conan-kun, how did you get these?"

He laughed nervously, "Uncle and Auntie Kudo said they couldn't come, so they gave me theirs."

"Then that means..."

"Right this way," The usher said, leading the three into the executive box.

"Wow, who would have thought that we'd get to see this together- right Ran?"

"Mmmhm, and in such wonderful seats at that."

The lights blinked to indicate that the show was about to start and Sonoko glanced around anxiously. On not seeing what she was looking for, she sighed dejectedly.

"But... it looks like he's not coming."

Ran got up and went to the usher by the stairs, "Sir, could you make sure if there's someone looking for a Suzuki Sonoko that they'll be brought here right away?"

"Of course, ma'am."

Returning to her seat, Ran patted Sonoko's hand, "There now, if he comes a bit late he'll be able to find us."

Sonoko frowned, "He probably had some tournament today and forgot all about it."

Obviously thinking about a certain someone else, Ran shook her head, "They do sometimes get a little too caught up in their dreams, don't they?"

The ballet was more interesting than Conan figured it would be. Sure, he knew the story- but something about watching it live and watching Ran react to it gave it a whole different meaning. At various parts, she'd point out things or make remarks here and there.

"You know Conan-kun, Shinichi actually reminds me of someone in this..." She'd said near the start.

Conan had asked who, but she just winked and said, "You'll know once it's over."

Intermission came and went, and Ran was glad to see that Sonoko was enjoying herself despite the fact that Makoto still hadn't arrived. But as the end of the ballet neared, Shinichi found that he still couldn't understand what Ran meant about one of the characters being him.

Then, as the character Marie woke up after her dream- it all started to come together. There was the knock on the door, and Marie answered it to find Herr Drosselmeyer and his nephew waiting outside.

"See, Conan. There he is. Although he'd been under the spell as the nutcracker, the Prince was always there to protect Marie. It's just like Shinichi- he always seems to call right when I feel like I need him the most."

Conan nodded, taking each and every one of those words to heart. Little did Ran know, Shinichi was more like the Prince than she first thought.

"Although," Conan thought to himself, "The idea of Gin and Vodka dressed up as the evil rats who cursed the Prince is quite the mental image."

As the audience applauded and the cast took their bows, another knock drew their attention to the door to their executive box. Sonoko rushed to answer it, ready to give whoever dared be there a piece of her mind.

But all her anger seemed to disappear as she noticed Makoto standing there. He had more bandages on his face than usual and he was breathing heavily. On seeing Sonoko, his face lit up.

"Sonoko-san, I made it."

"Made it?" She yelled, "You came too late! The show's over!"

Makoto blinked, "Oh. I meant I made it to finals and won- see?"

He held out a golden medal and shyly rubbed the side of his head, "I would have called but I didn't want to interrupt the performance for you."

"You...you..." Sonoko paused in her tirade as she felt the weight of the medal being hung around her neck, "Makoto?"

"I won it just for you, Sonoko-san. It can be...sort of an early Golden week, right?" He said blushing.

Sonoko smiled at that, blushing and looking down at the medal, "Really? For me?"

He nodded. Nearby, Ran and Conan just exchanged a knowing glance.

"I had a feeling he'd come just at the right time," Ran remarked, watching the two.

"How's that, Ran-neechan?"

She smiled and tapped Conan on the nose, "Because a man in love always comes to save his princess."

As they walked home that evening, Conan couldn't help but think back to some of things Ran had said earlier that day.

 _"He has to run off and pursue his dream- but he still cares about you, I'm sure of it. Sure, they do sometimes get a little too caught up in their dreams, don't they? But they always come back, because a man in love always comes to save his princess."_

Wondering if it was indeed what he suspected, he posed the innocent question.

"Ran-neechan, is Shinichi-niisan your Prince?"

Ran turned bright red and blinked, "Conan-kun! What are you asking that for?"

"It was what you said earlier to Sonoko-neechan. It was like you were talking about someone important to you as well."

Pausing on the front steps, she looked off down the street. Then with a shy smile, she bent down and whispered to Conan.

"Now don't tell Shinichi, okay?"

Conan mutely nodded, watching as she headed up the stairs. Little did Ran know, she'd already told Shinichi herself. Following her up the stairs, he couldn't help but smile at her words.

Shinichi is... well, he's like a Prince that's on a mission. His mission might come first, perhaps because he doesn't want others hurt; but when it comes down to it- he tries his best to be there. But that's okay, I guess. I'll wait until he can come home for good.

Thinking to the days ahead of him, Conan shook his head.

"And sometimes your idiot Prince goes through a lot of damn pain just to get back home. But hey- it's always worth it for you, Ran."

It was clear that she was up to no good, Kaito noted with a frown as he noticed Akako smirking. Then again, anytime Akako looked particularly happy or devious- Kaito worried. And considering some of her prior stunts, he had ever reason to be concerned.

But this time, it seemed like she had an accomplice (well, aside from Lucifer and whatever other demons she cared to summon) and that made Kaito all the more nervous. Her cell phone had rang mid-class that day (it's ominous tune of "Night on Bald Mountain" making the entire room feel ill at ease) and after that, she'd just been very smirky and shady acting.

And since, he had due cause to believe that whatever it was she was up to probably involved him or his more infamous alias- Kaito took it upon himself to follow her that day after school.

She'd rummaged through every drawer, nook and cranny of the room- finally unearthing the small amulet and letting Heiji run off to solve a case. Waving him off with a smile, Kazuha's face quickly shifted to a scowl the second he was out of sight.

"He's gonna need that amulet for more than this case if this is what I think it is..."

Going back to the bottom of the sock drawer, she gently lifted out the strange box she'd spotted earlier. Glancing about to make sure no one was coming, she lifted the lid off and frowned.

Inside was a beautiful necklace, the gold sparkling as the light hit it; but Kazuha was skeptical- very skeptical- about who the necklace was for.

"Heiji's not confessed any sort of feelings, so it's probably not for me... Maybe, he's helping his father hide it from his mother? Or...what if he..."

Cutting off her thought, her mind returned to her first instinct on seeing the box- Heiji got a piece of jewelry for another woman. Quickly stuffing the box back where she'd found it, Kazuha headed down the stairs and said her goodbyes to Mrs. Hattori.

Pulling out her cell phone and a folded newspaper clipping, Kazuha took a deep breath and dialed.

"I didn't want to resort to this, but that ahou has left me no other choice!"

Mitsuhiko was desperate. He'd returned the book he'd originally gotten for Haibara-san's Golden week gift after deciding she wouldn't like it. Now, he was completely stumped as to what to get her.

She wasn't the 'girly' type, like Ayumi, who would be glad to get a teddy-bear or something like that. And sure, Haibara liked computers; but it would be hard to figure out what kind of computer games she wouldn't get bored with.

Dejectedly sitting on the bench at the park, he tried to think on what she could possibly want. Before any idea could hit him, a wind-blown newspaper did instead.

"Ack! Wait...what is this?" Looking down at the small ad, he blinked, "Well, it's worth a try."

Reaching into his backpack, he dug out a piece of paper. Putting his pen to the page, he began to write.

"Now, I just have to present my case in the most sympathetic way..."

Ran was tired. Between a long day at school and then some rigorous karate training, she was fully prepared to come home, fix dinner, and get a good night's sleep. Little did she know, her Father had other plans.

"I'm home!" She called, coming into the office.

Kogoro sat up from where he sat slumped at his desk and held out a rolled newspaper in her direction.

"It's about time. Now we have to hurry and get down to this new restaurant to claim our prize."

"Our prize?"

Standing, he quickly took her bag from her hand, tossed it to the couch, and headed for the door.

"You're one of the ten winners, so we have to hurry."

"Tousan! I didn't even enter anything!"

Kogoro smirked, "Well thanks to my quick thinking you have. Hah ha! Aren't you so lucky as to have me as a Father?"

Ran looked skeptical, while a familiar voice started to read the article from the newspaper.

"The Demon's Kitchen. A new restaurant and bar, complete with its own fortune teller on staff to see into your future. As a special Grand Opening feature, we're giving ten lucky winners a free dinner and a charm from our fortune teller to grant one Golden week wish. Write or call in with the reasons why you deserve this prize. Winners will be announced at 4 p.m. on December 22. Good luck!" Conan read, glancing up at Ran, "Ran-neechan, what's with this circled article?"

She sighed, glaring at her Father.

"Tousan! Don't use me to get you free drinks!" Ran reprimanded before turning to Conan, "Conan-kun, we're going out to eat since someone apparently entered me in this contest."

Shinichi frowned as the words of the article echoed in his mind.

"I have a feeling that somehow that bumbling detective dragged me into this..."

"So what did you write in to get Ran-neechan to win?" He asked innocently as they waited for a cab.

Kogoro shrugged, "Just some babble about how that Kudo is a good-for-nothing. I'm sure the people there just felt so sorry for her and had to let her win."

"Oi, oi... it's not like I want to be stuck like this!" Shinichi thought to himself, before worriedly glancing at Ran.

"Ran-neechan, are you okay?"

Her tense smile snapped into place, "I'm fine, Conan-kun. I just wish Otousan had let me write my own letter."

The trio loaded into the taxi cab and headed downtown. Meanwhile, Conan tried to figure out exactly what was going through Ran's mind.

"It sounds like she would have entered it anyways, but still... I don't mean to seem like such a horrible person to her. Whatever this wish of hers is- I just hope I can live up to it."

The restaurant was crowded with news cameras, onlookers and the ten lucky people who'd won the contest. Entering the place, Conan noticed that several familiar faces were there. Ran quickly went over to the winner's line and began talking with Kazuha who'd also made the top ten. Behind them, Mitsuhiko talked to Officer Takagi while Ayumi and Genta waited at a nearby table.

Thinking to himself, Conan wondered if Haibara would make some dreary comment if she was there about how he must be letting his bad luck rub off on others to the point they had to wish it away. That of course, brought his mind to the matter he'd discussed with her and Professor Agasa. But before he could think over it any longer, a familiar voice cut in.

"Well, it looks like I'm not the only one here to spy on someone," Kaito remarked casually.

Looking up, Conan spotted Aoko in the winning ten and easily figured things out, "Hoping she doesn't wish KID's death or something like that?"

"If I get desperate, I'll talk the fortune teller into talking Aoko out of it," He said with a shrug.

"You know her?"

"Heh, she's some nutcase that goes to my school. Apparently the restaurant called her up to help with publicity. I'd actually followed her after school because I thought she might be cursing me again."

"Sounds like your life's an adventure as well."

The odd duo watched as the announcer listed off the names of the ten winners and they lined up in front of the small room where their fortunes would be read.

Shrugging, Kaito started to saunter that way, "Well, little detective- I've got to go make sure Akako doesn't curse anyone."

"Heh. All right, but let's put off any challenges until after this Golden week. Is that a deal?"

Glancing to Aoko, Kaito smiled, "Unless something comes into town last minute I should be able to agree to that."

"Good."

"So he got a present for another girl?" Ran asked.

Kazuha nodded, "It has to be! Why else would he have that?"

"It could be for you, you know."

She blushed, "No way! Heiji's just... he wouldn't get me something that nice, would he?"

Ran smirked, "Perhaps someone gave him a nudge in the right direction this year."

"That ahou would take more than a nudge to realize some things..."

Their conversation came to a hush as the announcer ushered the first winner into the room. After the name was announced, a young brown-haired girl with a ponytail nervously entered.

"Wow, I wonder what her story was..." Kazuha murmured, shifting the subject elsewhere than her and Heiji.

Ran tapped her chin, "Who knows. I'm sure the top ten had to be really something to win though."

"That reminds me, I told you mine- what was yours?"

Sighing, Ran pointed to her Father, "You'd have to ask him for specifics since he entered it without me knowing. But I have a feeling he wrote something about Shinichi never being around for me..."

"Well that sounds like a sob-story winner to me. Especially since it's almost Golden week. So, have you heard from him today?"

Ran shook her head, "Just the usual 'I'm busy with a case' message on his voice mail. I've just... not felt right leaving a message."

"Then use your wish to get him home for Golden week!" Kazuha said hopefully.

Beside her, Ran smiled sadly, "But if he's busy then..."

Before she could say more, her cell phone rang. Looking around to make sure it was indeed hers, she answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Shinichi..."

Conan smirked from where he stood across the room, thankful for the crowd hiding him as he placed the call.

"I heard on the news you won something, congratulations."

"He must have known you were missing him," Kazuha whispered to Ran. She just shushed her and turned back to the phone.

"Thanks but um..." She winced trying to figure out how to word things.

"I was actually calling for another reason as well," Shinichi murmured, hoping that he wasn't going to regret making this promise.

"Oh, what's that?"

"Well, I should be able to drop by my birthday Eve and I was wondering when a good time would be."

Ran's eyes widened, "You mean you'll..."

"I'll make it work somehow, Ran. I promise you that. So what time?"

"Um... about eleven? I think Dad will be visiting Megure-keibu about then so you won't have to worry about him bothering you."

Shinichi blinked, then not being able to help himself, he had to tease, "So you want us to be alone? Just what kind of present are you giving me, Ran?"

"Shinichi! You idiot, don't think like that! I just..."

"Okay, okay. Sorry, I couldn't help it. I'll be there as close to eight as I can. If an emergency comes up or I'll be late, I'll call."

"Okay..." Ran murmured.

"Well, I'd best go..."

"Shinichi- wait!"

He paused, "What?"

"Just...well, thank you. Looks like I might not need this Golden week wish thing after all."

"Ran..." Shinichi smiled, "Just don't curse me instead, okay?"

"Okay," She replied, barely able to contain her happiness, "Bye Shinichi. See you on Golden week Eve."

"Bye Ran. See you then."

"You know, it's rather distracting to have you hovering like that," Akako admonished the shadowy figure on the ceiling of the room.

Kaito retorted back, "Just wouldn't want you cursing innocents or something else weird to express your love for them."

"I'm not going to lose my part-time job over a mere curse. If they really anger me, I'll curse them later."

He laughed nervously, "Oh that's reassuring."

"Watch if you will, this is a perfectly legit business."

And sure enough, the first girl came and went without a single shred of a curse being planted. Mine Sayaka, Kaito noted, was another student at their school. She'd wished that her Golden week wasn't as chaotic as the year before and that Yaiba didn't attack their Golden week tree again. Akako gave her a piece of paper and told the girl to place it on the boy's forehead if he started getting out of line. Kaito just hoped it wouldn't kill the weird little samurai boy he'd seen running through their school's hallways.

About to leave on seeing that Akako seemed to be holding true to her word, she stopped him as another shadow entered the door.

"You might want to hear this one, Kuroba-kun."

Of course, next was none other than one Nakamori Aoko.

After some quick simple fortune work, things Kaito noted that any detective or over-observant person could probably pick up; Akako gave her the slip for the wish.

"Just make any wish you want and write it there. I will then give you a charm to ensure it works."

Aoko paused, thinking hard about it. Meanwhile, Kaito was sweating bullets and hoped that this didn't mark his demise.

Finally, he could make out her handwriting as she jotted the wish down.

My wish is that KID doesn't cause any trouble this Golden week. For once, I'd like to spend Golden week with my Dad and my friends without any heist going on. And maybe if there's no chaos then Kaito won't keep running off in the middle of my party (probably to watch the news on the KID heist, since he seems to like defending that idiot).

Akako read it over and handed Aoko a jewel on a gold chain.

"Wear this jewel on Golden week and only take it off if the man you love asks you to."

Aoko nodded and with a smile took the necklace, "Okay. Thanks Akako-chan."

Casting a sideways glance towards the ceiling, Akako waved her off, "Just doing my job, Nakamori-san."

The second she left, Kaito dropped down from the ceiling, "Very cute, Akako. What are you up to with the jewel anyways?"

"You heard me, right? She'll take the necklace off if the man she loves asks. You can inspect it then, KID."

Kaito paused a moment before blushing, "Hey now...that better not be a trap."

Akako shrugged, "If it makes you happy then... well, enjoy your Golden week holiday- Kuroba-kun."

Conan waited outside the room as the others talked about their fortunes and what they wished for. Takagi, as they all suspected, hoped that his date with Sato went well. Mitsuhiko wished that he'd find the perfect gift for Haibara-san. Kazuha wished that the necklace she found in Heiji's room was actually for his Mother and not for another woman. Leaving Ran to exit and talk about hers.

Finally, the brown-haired girl came out and smiled at the group. "All right, got mine."

Kazuha smirked, "So let's hear it. What's the wish?"

Blushing Ran, cleared her throat and whispered it to Kazuha, "That not a single murder or crime will happen when Shinichi comes to visit me. That way, he won't have to run off in the middle of things again."

Nodding, Kazuha sighed, "Ahh yes. Heiji's just as bad about that, you know?"

As the two girls conversed, Conan overheard the news crew talking about how they were packing up to go to Osaka. Apparently, Heiji had successfully solved a murder case and they wanted it to make the night news.

Walking over to the table where Kogoro already sat eating and drinking his fill, Shinichi thought about Ran's wish and had to stifle a laugh.

"I guess that was the best wish after all. I mean, I definitely have a better chance of turning back to my real self than making sure there's no crimes to distract me once I'm back. Smart thinking there, Ran. Now it's just up to me to uphold the other half of the bargain."

"You want me to what?" Conan asked, staring at Haibara.

"I need to test this new mix so we'll have an estimate of the time you'll get to spend with your girlfriend tomorrow."

Shinichi blushed, "She's not my girlfriend!"

"You're giving her that ring, right?"

He sighed, deciding to change the subject, "What do you mean new-mix?"

Walking back over to the computer, Ai's fingers began to input information quickly into the program.

"You know how the alcoholic properties of that one type of wine combined with a feverish cold seemed to trigger something? Well, since I didn't figure you wanted to be that ill yet still wanted to go back- I'm using a smaller dosage of an antidote I've been working on, the wine, and a pill that'll give you mild cold-like symptoms instead of severe ones."

Conan blinked, "You're sure going to a lot of trouble..."

"I never turn down a willing test subject. And, as I mentioned once before, I owe my sister at least a small amount of so-called 'Golden week Spirit.'"

"So you want me to go to the Golden week concert tonight with Ran as Shinichi?"

"The large crowd will protect your identity best. Keep your face hidden, don't talk too much, and don't get caught up in anything messy. Now-here," She handed over a small pill, "Take that. I'll begin monitoring your reaction. Oh, Professor-"

Agasa stood in the doorway, "Is this going to work?"

Ai nodded, "By my calculations, his risk of death is only 70 this time."

Both Conan and Agasa winced. Haibara smirked slightly, speaking still with complete calmness, "I was joking. It's only 60"

"Oh that's sure a relief," He snarked back, eyeing the pill.

"Shinichi are you sure about this?" Agasa questioned, looking at Conan's small body.

"I suppose Haibara's right. If I don't have any idea the time limit on this, then I could end up fainting in Ran's presence and my cover will be completely blown. If I at least have a slight idea, I can get out of there before it wears off."

The Professor nodded warily, "I'll wait with Ai-kun outside the concert tonight just in case. If anything goes wrong, signal us with your cell phone and come to the car immediately."

Conan nodded, "I will. Now, let's just hope for the best..."

Placing the pill in his mouth, he swallowed.

Ran had heard about it on the news and she really wished she'd gotten tickets to attend. It was a last-minute Golden week concert by the popular group Two-Mix and tickets were gone within seconds of it being announced. She'd heard that some people had been lucky enough to win tickets via a local radio station but no matter how hard she tried, she never called in at the right time.

Sitting down on the couch, she wondered what she could do that evening. The Professor had called earlier saying that Conan and the kids were playing with another new invention and they might not be home until late. It was possible, he even noted, that the children might spend the night.

Looking to her Father, once again napping at his desk, Ran sighed.

"I almost wish a case would come up if nothing else but it's better than sitting here and doing nothing..." She paused after that, laughing to herself, "Great, now I'm thinking like Shinichi."

The phone started ringing then, and Ran quickly stood to answer it in hopes that whoever it was would save her from her boredom. Little did she know, it was someone she'd just been thinking of.

"Hey," Shinichi's distinct voice came over the line.

"Shinichi?"

"Are you busy at the moment?"

Ran blinked, glancing about the room, "No. Why?"

"Get changed really quick and come downstairs. I got tickets to that Two-Mix concert and I thought you might enjoy it."

Blinking again, Ran stared at the phone, "Shinichi?"

"Huh?"

"Are you feeling all right?"

"What do you mean?"

She darted over to the window and looked out; sure enough the Professor's car sat there with a familiar figure sitting in the passenger seat.

"Never mind. I'll be right down," She replied, her voice perking up instantly.

Shinichi sat down his cell phone and sighed, "Oi, Agasa- what do you think that was about?"

"She probably thought you were joking or that it's strange for you to be this nice all of a sudden."

"Hey! I'm not mean to her on purpose. It's not like I want to have to run away all the time without saying goodbye because things come up!"

"Shinichi..." Agasa warned.

"What's she gonna do tomorrow when I give her that gift?" He kept talking, not paying any heed to the shadow behind him.

"Shinichi!" The Professor interrupted.

"What?"

He pointed outside the window, "I think she's here."

Shinichi blushed, and Ran looked equally flustered by what she'd overheard.

"Um...hi Ran," He got out and opened the backseat. Ran just sorta stared for a second, before finally snapping back to the moment.

"You're really here, aren't you?"

Rubbing the back of his nervously, he casually replied, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Before he knew it, Ran was hugging him; and finding himself equally thankful for this extra chance to see her, Shinichi wrapped his arms around her as well.

"I thought I wasn't going to get to see you until tomorrow," Ran murmured, "And then I kept dreading that you'd call and that some case had come up and..."

He cut her off, steadying her and wiping away the tears that threatened to fall.

"Sorry Ran. I'm going to stay with you today as long as I can. But since this date is a bit last-minute, I might get called away from it and one more thing you look beautiful in this dress. Tomorrow's still on though, okay?"

She nodded, then blushed as she registered his choice of words.

"A date, huh?" Ran questioned, impish gleam in her eye.

"Well um...err..." He looked to the Professor, desperately hoping he'd get him out of this one.

"We'd best get going you two, you don't want to be late," Agasa spoke up.

Shinichi coughed nervously, "Come on Ran, you can beat me up in the car."

Ran sat down next to him in the backseat, "I'll beat you up another time. Right now, I just want to enjoy this."

And at that remark, Shinichi couldn't help but smiling along with her.

Whether this antidote would last a few minutes or longer, he no longer cared. Seeing Ran's face light up like this for the few moments he'd been back already made it all worth it.

Using his slight sneezing and cold as an excuse, Shinichi made sure to keep his coat's hood pulled up around him as they got out at the park where the concert was being held. Handing over the tickets, Ran noted the small envelope and note in his pocket as well.

Going to their seats, Ran decided that in the small time left before the show she'd find out more about that note.

"So, how'd you get these tickets again?"

" Conan brought it, he said he was friend with two-mix , easily got the ticket and saw me returning figured we'd enjoy going," He answered casually.

Ran frowned skeptically, "Ah. Conan Okay."

The lights started to go down, and much to the disappointment of the audience- a security officer took the stage.

"The show will be delayed slightly, please remain in your seats until otherwise notified."

"I wonder what happened," Ran said aloud, looking about.

Shinichi's eyes were focused on the stage. Reaching over, he placed his hand atop Ran's.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go backstage and see what happened."

"Shinichi, it's probably just a technical problem."

He frowned, "If it was that, they would have said so. And the stage lights seem to be fine. If it was a problem with the performers, they would say so as well. This is probably a delay they can't speak about. Also, the announcement was made by a security officer and he instructed everyone to remain seated. They don't want someone to leave..."

Ran sighed, "So a crime was committed; you're a magnet for them, Shinichi."

"I'm gonna go see what's going on," He stood, pausing when he felt Ran's hand grip his wrist.

"And this time, I'm coming with you."

"But Ran..."

"Don't 'but Ran' me. I've seen plenty of crimes with my Father, and if the only way I'm going to get to spend time with you is ogling a corpse, then so be it. Let's go."

Shinichi shook his head, then realizing that there was no dissuading her, grabbed her hand and headed for the backstage door.

"All right, let's go."

After showing the guards the note he'd had, Shinichi and Ran were easily admitted backstage. As suspected, something serious had indeed gone wrong.

Hanging from one of the rows of stage lights was a dead body, an electronic cord wrapped around his neck as a noose. Shinichi sighed.

While he knew he could probably figure out the case easily, he couldn't risk the publicity if it got out who solved the crime. And since he'd already used his name to get backstage, the stakes were high.

"And I have to figure in the fact that the antidote could wear off any moment..."

"This is terrible," Ran murmured, looking up at the man, "He was one of your lighting crew members right?"

Minami, Shiina and the rest of the crew nodded.

"Can someone lower the body down? We need to figure the time of death," Ran called out, quickly taking control of the situation.

A shorter man nodded and rushed to a consol to switch the lights off and lower the beam down. Shinichi just smiled.

"Well, well... it looks like playing detective all the time with your Father and Conan has rubbed off. Okay, Ran- today you get to solve this one."

Tugging her aside, Shinichi whispered to her, "Ran, I need you to do me a favor."

"Huh? What is it?"

"I can't let my name go to press or the case I'm on will be jeopardized. I'll help you every step of the way, but I need you to solve this case."

She blinked a moment, then knowing he'd never lead her astray, she reached down and took his hand. Giving it a light squeeze, Ran replied, "Okay, Shinichi. Just tell me what to do."

For the next half-hour, the two gathered names, facts and information on the comings and goings of the crew and musicians.

They'd opted against bringing in the police yet, in hopes that they could keep crowd-panic to a minimum. But either way, Shinichi made a quick call to Megure-keibu to give him the basics and tell him he'd call once they knew more.

The victim was thirty-one year old Ugaki Shuusuke. He'd worked lights for Two-Mix for years along with two other crew members and was just about to propose to his girlfriend that night. Shinichi was quick to note that the engagement ring was missing- a clue, he noted that would most likely show up on the criminal's person.

One of the two other light-crew members was sick that day. Yado Hideaki called in earlier that morning sounding terribly ill. Ran wondered if perhaps that was just a cover for him coming to the site anyways and Shinichi had to agree.

Then there was the third lighting crew member- Oroya Tanaka. He'd shown up late for the tech-run earlier that day and had been acting odd ever since according to the other crew members. He also, as many noted, would have had the easiest access to the cord and beam that the victim was hung on.

Of course, there was Two-Mix and their manager, who were also questioned. Something that, much to Ran and Shinichi's surprise, seemed to give them an odd lead.

Their manager had mentioned it casually, but it seemed cause for investigation. While Minami was rehearsing that afternoon, Shiina had remained in his room- saying he wasn't feeling well. Sure enough, after a quick sweep of his dressing room the case would be closed easily. The criminal had left his tracks everywhere.

But before a deduction could be made, Shinichi felt the pains in his chest getting worse. Quickly, he pulled Ran aside to speak to her.

"Ran, listen...I might have to leave soon."

"Shinichi, are you all right?" Concern flooded her features, obviously worried about his current health situation.

He nodded, "Just my cold acting up, nothing serious. But I want you to solve this case, you have the clues Ran and I know you can do this."

"Shinichi..."

Reaching down, he returned her earlier gesture. Interlocking his fingers with hers, he gently squeezed her hand.

"Trust me, Ran. You can do this, I'll be perfectly okay and I'll be there tomorrow."

He could feel the burning sensation in his chest and knew he had to go- right away. But before he could pull away completely, he felt Ran grab his wrist.

"Shinichi...I..." Her face was flushed, but she mustered up her courage. Finally, she pecked a quick kiss on his cheek, "Thank you."

Blinking, he could no longer tell if his racing heart was due the antidote wearing off or just his own nerves. "Ran..." He smiled, blushing as well, "Good luck."

She nodded, "Goodnight, Shinichi."

"Goodnight Ran," He replied, forcing himself to choke down his nerves and quickly leave a light kiss on her cheek as well. Ran watched him as he hurried away like always.

"At least this time he said goodbye," She reasoned, her hand subconsciously touching the very cheek Shinichi had just kissed.

Composing her nerves and emotions, Ran headed back into the room where the suspects were gathered. About to ask them all to listen up- she noticed Megure-keibu and Officer Takagi there.

"Ah, Ran-san! You're here. Kudo-kun said you'd be handling the case since he wasn't feeling well today."

Ran nodded, glad to see them but still determined to uphold her promise to Shinichi. He had so much faith in her to solve this case and that gave her a newfound confidence in her deduction skills. In an instant, she turned serious.

"Megure-keibu, if you could please verify the time and cause of death I can begin my deduction."

The two officers exchanged a look- then quickly set their crew out to perform the tasks Ran had requested.

Running all the facts through her mind, Ran tried to recall the way Shinichi had helped her solve a case before. The subtle nuances that would draw the criminal out, the way to deliver clear, concise evidence, and how to present each and every detail of the crime.

She noticed Takagi approach her and he whispered a few things to her. Nodding, she turned to the gathered suspects.

"If you would all please take a seat, we can get this over with and let the show go on."

The group nodded and Ran took a deep breath. She could do this, Shinichi said so, and above all else- she trusted him.

"Good luck," His words echoed in her mind and clearing her throat, she began the deduction.

"Shuusuke-san was killed about two hours before the show began, his body being hidden on that beam by a trick," Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a thin fishing line wire, "This fishing line was used to hold down his legs as he laid horizontally on the beam. The line was then tied to the neighboring beam that held the secondary lights. When the lights went up for the show to start, the line would snap and the body would fall down making it look as if he'd hung himself. At first glance, it would seem a suicide. But that... is not the case here."

Pacing a little, Ran could feel a rush- almost like she got when she was competing against a worthy opponent in karate. Yes, this is why Shinichi loved doing this. Solving crimes and bringing the truth gave him this kind of thrill. Somehow, Ran felt a little closer to him in realizing this.

"Hideaki-san had called in sick today, meaning the only other light-crew member who would know the sequence in which the beams were moved to set up such a trick would be, you- Tanaka-san."

The man jumped as her finger pointed at him. Looking panicked, he stood up, "But I had an alibi- I told you! Two hours before the show I was doing a sound check. Takayama-san saw me, right?"

Minami nodded, "Tanaka-san was running a sound check then. I was on stage testing the microphones for him and doing some warm-ups. He couldn't have been backstage rigging the beams as you said."

Ran smirked, it was all beginning to play out. "Ah, that's true. I really didn't want to believe it, but it looks like it really is him. Since you're the only one who didn't have an alibi- it must be you- Nagano Shiina."

The whole group gasped as she pointed to Two-Mix's second member.

"Shiina...but he couldn't..." Minami gasped.

Keeping her cool, Ran continued, "I thought it was strange when the manager said he'd gone to lay down claiming he was ill. That's when I investigated your dressing room, Nagano-san. And I happened to find this in your trashcan..."

She pulled out a wadded piece of paper. Opening it, Ran read, "Shuusuke- please meet me backstage during sound check this afternoon. I'd like to go over something with you. -Shiina."

Megure stepped forward then, taking the note from Ran and holding it to where Minami could see it, "Can you verify the handwriting is his?"

Somberly, Minami nodded, "He's the only one who can write his i's like that. I'm afraid...it was written by him."

Glancing to Shiina, everyone noticed he looked rather serious. He'd not spoken much since they'd gotten to the room, but most had figured it was due to him not feeling well.

"Nagano-san..." The manager murmured.

He stood abruptly, then started to make a dash for the door. But Ran knew this was all part of his plan and quickly moved to stop him. She spun around, giving a kick square to his jaw, and he went flying; finally slumping against a nearby wall.

"Ran-san!" Megure yelled out.

Leaning down, Ran pulled off the man's wig, "I'm sorry, Megure-keibu. But I couldn't let our criminal get away. Takagi-san, please go to the storage closet at the end of the hallway. You'll find the real Shiina there. He had been threatened and forced to write that note and kept there afterwards. He's fine, Shinichi and I made sure of it earlier."

The officer nodded, and left the room of stunned people to see who was really behind this. Sure enough, at Ran's feet was a man who was attempting to disguise himself as Shiina. Without the wig though, the crew recognized him right away.

"Hideaki-san," Minami said, walking up beside Ran, "You...you did it?"

The man shrugged, "Heh. Yah, I did. That bastard Shuusuke- he took her from me! She was mine!"

Ran held out a hand, "You took the ring he was going to propose with, didn't you?"

Reluctantly, Hideaki tossed it out on the ground, "I couldn't let him have her. First Shiina, then Shuusuke. She never noticed me. Not once!"

Nodding her head, Ran bit her lip, "Shuusuke's girlfriend, Kiyone-san, you loved her didn't you?"

Hideaki started to stand, letting himself be handcuffed by the police.

"Yes, I always did. But she was just using me to get closer to Shiina. She idolized that man like he was some god, always talking about how it was her dream to play keyboards with him. I got a job on the light crew so I could bring her backstage with me, give her little glimpses of him in hopes that she'd fall for me and my kindness. But she didn't! That woman... she fell in love with Shuusuke instead! A week after she dumped me, I found out Shuusuke had started dating her. After a year of trying to get her to look away from Shiina and look at me, she left me for him! I couldn't stand it!"

Hanging her head, Ran picked up the engagement ring box from where it laid on the ground.

"So when you heard he was going to propose to her today, you decided to kill him first and frame Shiina for it. You'd been disguising yourself as Shiina from time to time to get closer to Kiyone, so you knew you could do that again. Once you locked the real Shiina in the closet and made him write that note, you would take his place and lay the clues to incriminate him. Then, whenever the deduction was made, you'd run from the room and hide in that very closet. Making it look as if Shiina had tied you up to keep quiet and letting him take all the blame. That way, they'd both be out of your way and you'd be able to win Kiyone-san's heart," Glancing up at him, Ran sighed, "I'm afraid love isn't that simple, Hideaki-san. Love requires trusting and understanding one another and she could never trust you after you deceived her like this. Megure-keibu, please give this to Kiyone-san."

Placing the small ring box in his hands, Ran smiled sadly. Megure reached out and patted her on the shoulder, "You did a wonderful job here, Ran-san. Both your Father and Kudo-kun would be very proud of you."

She nodded, "If you don't need me anymore, I think I'll be returning to my seat. The show must go on, right Minami-san?"

Glancing over to Minami, Ran noticed the real Nagano Shiina standing in the doorway with Takagi.

Minami smiled back, "Yes. Give us a few minutes to get this sorted out, but we'll still perform. Shuusuke-san would have wanted us to. Thank you very much, Ran-chan. You and your boyfriend certainly helped us out a great deal tonight."

"Ah well...it was nothing," Ran murmured, blush tingeing her cheeks, yet feeling too awkward at the moment to correct the singer.

"Are you all right?" Minami asked, turning to Shiina.

"Yah, they made sure I'd be okay waiting there until they could deduce things. I should be warmed up and ready to play in a few minutes."

"Good."

Ran started to head out, the rush of the mystery slowly ebbing away. Behind her, she heard Minami call out.

"Ah, Ran-chan! Let us know if you two ever need tickets again for a date. We'll be more than happy to give you front row seats."

Letting that process, Ran replied, "Oh- um, thank you!"

"That's what that note was. He set this whole date up and even contacted Two-Mix for the tickets. That little sneak!"

But as she headed back to her seat, Ran had to smile about it. He'd gone out of his way, at the last minute and while he was still on a case, to stop by and set up a date with her. Shinichi understood what it would mean to her, and he'd trusted her with the case when he had to leave.

Shaking her head with a blush, Ran reflected on her own words.

"Love requires trusting and understanding one another..."

"Ran-neechan, is everything okay?" The familiar voice cut into her thoughts.

Looking down, she spotted Conan walking up beside her.

"Conan-kun, what are you doing here?"

"Shinichi-niisan called and said he had to leave you with a case and go home. He didn't want you sitting through the concert alone so he asked if I could come in his place."

Ran's face lit up at that as she kneeled down and hugged the young boy.

"Tell Shinichi if you hear from him later that I solved the case," She whispered in his ear.

Conan nodded, "I will, Ran-neechan. I bet he'll be really proud when he hears about it on the news tomorrow."

"The news?" Ran blinked.

"Of course, it's a big deal to solve a crime like this. You cleared Nagano-san's name and you're Mouri Kogoro's daughter. It might even make the front page."

Ran sat down in her seat, letting that all sink in. After a moment, she quirked an eyebrow, "Hey, wait a minute. How did you know that the murderer had framed Nagano-san?"

Conan's eyes widened, but he casually replied, "Oh- Shinichi-niisan told me. He said that's why you'll make the front page for sure!"

Smiling, Ran shook her head, "After all the times Shinichi and even you have made the paper, I guess it's about time I did some detective work too. I suppose it's actually a bit...fun."

Conan smiled at that, glad to see that Ran understood what the appeal was to him. Before either could say more, the lights dimmed and the Minami's voice came over the speakers.

"I'm very sorry for the delay everyone, but now- let's get this concert started!"

Ran wasn't surprised to see Professor Agasa waiting with the car when her and Conan exited the concert. On the other hand, the slew of reporters all asking her various questions was indeed a shock.

Conan just grinned and told her to be more articulate than her Father was in interviews. Ran grinned back and assured him that she would. Knowing to keep mentions of Shinichi to a minimum so his other case wasn't jeopardized- Ran did her best to answer all the questions.

The next morning as the Shounen Tantei didn't let Conan hear the end of it. Between Haibara knowing that as Shinichi he'd kissed Ran on the cheek and Genta and Mitsuhiko taunting that his high-school girlfriend had made the paper- Conan knew he'd be very glad to get away from them that evening.

As for the new antidote- it worked almost two hours. Something, as both Shinichi and the Professor noted, might work even a bit longer if he was lucky. But before even thinking about dealing with that, Shinichi knew he'd have to spend some time with her as Conan that afternoon to lower suspicions.

With the complex issues dealt with, Shinichi was now dealing with another dilemma. Namely- how to give her the promise ring without making a complete idiot out of himself in the process.

The whole day it seemed as if the world was out to get him. Setting up little coincidences here and there, making things all the more emotionally frustrating- and that was before seeing his parents.

In short, one Kudo Shinichi now had a hell of a lot to live up to.

The first instance was early that morning as the papers came in. Kogoro just wouldn't stop ranting and raving about how much Ran had learned from his great detective skills and phone calls asking for interviews kept coming in as well. Much like Conan had told her the night before, the headlines read like a star line up.

It was no surprise to those that knew her, that Mouri Ran had great potential to solve a murder case. Daughter of the infamous 'Sleeping Kogoro' and according to friends, currently classmate of high-school detective Kudo Shinichi- Ran was a hero in her own right last night as she cleared Nagano Shiina's name from a framed murder and helped the Two-Mix concert go on as planned. "Once I realized that someone had framed Nagano-san, I knew I had to do something about it," Ran remarked after exiting the concert. When asked how she was able to solve it so skillfully, Miss Mouri became embarrassed at the flattery. "I wouldn't say I'm a great detective, I'll leave that to my Father and Shinichi. But I suppose being around them, and hearing their deductions did indeed help me in this situation."

Conan's eyes skimmed the rest of the article- proud to see that Ran was getting the praise she deserved for it. But there was one unsettling thing about it; although the mentions of him were indeed completely innocent and gave no indication as to his location, all the times his name appeared involved mentioning that he was her boyfriend. Expectation and assumption number one of the day.

Expectation number two came not long after.

Sonoko had called and demanded to have a 'nice, long talk' with Ran. Conan, of course, knew this was all a big rouse to hound Ran for details about last night- but almost like watching two trains collide and being morbidly fascinated by it, Conan found himself asking to go along with Ran to meet up with Sonoko.

After practically two seconds, he quickly regretted it.

The small coffee shop could surely hear each and every punctuated word out of Sonoko's mouth as she downright interrogated Ran about 'her hot date.'

The moment she finally weaseled it out of Ran that they'd each respectively kissed the other on the cheek- Sonoko knocked over her coffee mug out of pure excitement.

"Finally! You finally took a step forward!" The girl exclaimed, reaching across the table to hug her best friend, "I'm so proud of you, Ran. You're becoming a woman."

Ran, as was poor Conan, was blushing profusely after this and quickly tried to hush her friend's exclamations. Somewhere along the line, she slipped and mentioned that she was getting together with Shinichi that evening.

Sonoko just grinned, "Then you need to put the moves on him, girl! Go get him!"

Conan slouched down in his seat and sorely wished he'd never ever been possessed to ask to come along. Then again, after a sideways glance at Ran, he could tell she was feeling the same.

"Sonoko!" Ran reprimanded, "We're just getting together to exchange gifts. That's all!"

"What kind of gifts?"

"Sonoko! I'm not you!"

"Oh come on now, he's been gone for a long time. He's probably just waiting to get you alone before he jumps you."

Ran frowned, "Shinichi's not like that."

"A man has needs, and he's been alone for who knows how long..."

"We aren't even officially anything but friends!"

Sonoko shrugged, "Things can change quickly in one night. Just remember- wear something that shows off your figure and don't let him leave until he commits."

"Commits?" Ran snapped, "Commits to what?"

"To you, of course. He needs to just come out and at least let you know how he feels- right? And what better gift is there than that?"

Despite her wild train of thought, Sonoko's conclusion was indeed something that both Ran and Conan found piqued their interest. But not about to sit around and let her come up with any other crazy ideas about their love life- Ran feigned that she had to get Conan somewhere, and Conan was more than happy to play along. Once outside, Ran sighed.

"Sorry about that, Conan-kun. Sonoko can get...somewhat worked up."

"Eheh, it's okay Ran-neechan. It's not like Shinichi-niisan was there too."

Ran blanched and shook her head, "I think I would have just died of embarrassment had Shinichi been there. I mean- implying that he's going to...to...well, you don't think Shinichi's like that do you, Conan?"

Having to refrain from laughing to himself at the utter irony of this situation, Conan shook his head, "I'm sure Shinichi-niisan won't do anything weird tonight, Ran-neechan. He probably just wants to spend time with you and give you your present."

"Yah, that's right..." Ran replied, then she blushed a bit as she continued, "Thought I guess I can't argue with Sonoko about one thing. That would be a great gift."

Although he had a sinking feeling he knew what she meant, Conan played innocent, "What would, Ran-neechan?"

She smiled, "Nothing. Just thinking to myself. How about we go home and get some lunch?"

Conan nodded, "Okay."

As Ran started to rummage about the kitchen for things to cook, Conan sat nearby and pondered on the predicament he was in so far.

First off, there was a strong implication that one Kudo Shinichi was supposed to be dating Ran. Secondly, although Sonoko was clearly at fault for putting the idea in her head, Ran seemed to think her friend's suggestion of a 'great gift' was wonderful. That meant, said Kudo Shinichi was going to have to suck up his nerves and spit out in some form of intelligent speech what his feelings for Ran were.

And as his list of 'things I should try and do while I'm in my real body' continued to grow, a phone call brought a third matter into the fray.

"Conan-kun, it's for you!" Ran called out, and the boy quickly went to answer it. Needless to say, the second he heard the voice on the other end- he knew this couldn't be good.

"Oi, Kudo. How's the lovebirds on that end?" Hattori's voice echoed over the line.

Pausing a moment, and making sure he was out of Ran's hearing range, Conan sighed, "I can hear the corny Golden week music in the background. What are you doing at a mall on Golden week Eve, Hattori?"

"Well um... consider this a fair warning."

"What do you mean?"

In the background, Conan could hear Ran's cell phone start to ring.

"You hear that? That's probably Kazuha. You are now officially doomed unless you can whip out the best Romeo act in town tonight, Kudo."

"What are you talking about, Hattori? What happened?"

Heiji gulped, knowing that in any second- Ran would blurt out the exact secret he so feared spreading.

"Oh my- you and Heiji? You finally kissed? Kazuha-chan, that's wonderful!" Ran's voice echoed from the other room. Conan's mouth quirked into a devious smirk.

"Sounds like someone was busy this morning..."

"It was an accident!"

"You're telling me you can 'accidentally' kiss ? Hattori, you know I'm smarter than that- right?"

Heiji sighed in resignation, "told you, that just was an accident.."

"So you gave her the necklace then?"

"Nah, she'd already gotten the whole promise-ring thing into her head thanks to your little phone call so I exchanged it for that. We're...out shopping now because Kazuha demanded that she get me a better gift."

"I suppose I should say "Congratulations" then. You two finally saw the obviousness stamped all over you," Conan replied with a laugh.

He felt slightly unnerved when Heiji laughed a bit back, "Well, don't laugh too much Kudo. Now Ran's going to expect you to- as they put it- take a step forward in your relationship. Consider it payback for this whole mess you got me into using my voice."

Frowning as he realized Heiji was right, Shinichi amended his earlier tally. The game was now even: Shinichi- 1, Heiji- 1.

And so, item number three made its way onto Shinichi's growing list.

After letting Ran know he was going to visit the professor, Conan headed out- ready to put the evening's plans into action. He knew already that the moment his parents arrived, he'd be bombarded by expectations; but Shinichi wasn't expecting any sort of problem prior to their arrival.

Needless to say, on noticing Mitsuhiko leaving the house as he arrived- Conan knew that something was up.

"Hey, Mitsuhiko!" He called out, walking up to his friend.

"Conan!" He exclaimed, practically jumping out of his skin, "You...you just got here right?" Mitsuhiko stammered, blush burning on his cheeks.

Conan raised an eyebrow, "Um yes. I just got here, why?"

"Oh- no reason. Um...see ya tomorrow!" The boy managed before rushing off down the street.

It was obvious, detective-genius or not, that something had just happened that Mitsuhiko wanted to be a secret. And on looking past the gate to the front door, Conan saw the reason standing right there.

Sure enough, still in the doorway was a rather pleasantly surprised Haibara holding a Golden week present she'd clearly just opened.

"Haibara, what happened?"

Her eyes darted up and she blinked a moment before turning to go back inside.

"Nothing," She replied, her voice wavering and betraying her statement.

Conan shrugged and went in after her, sliding his shoes off at the door- he glanced up at Professor Agasa.

"What's up with Haibara?" He whispered.

Agasa bent down, "Mitsuhiko just gave her a rather special gift. My guess is she's somewhat touched."

"I do have emotions, Professor," Ai's voice cut in, "It was just... very thoughtful of him."

The two males of the room exchanged a glance and Shinichi had a bad feeling about it.

Sure enough, a few hours later amidst her typing and scribbling notes about the antidote, Haibara ended up conceding what had happened.

"Before you injure your brain trying to deduce what happened, I might as well tell you. Unless you'd rather guess, Mr. Detective?"

Not about to let the challenge pass him by, Conan stepped up to the task, "It's not that hard to figure out. Moments before my arrival, Mitsuhiko- who'd probably been outside for hours- had finally gotten up the courage to knock. You- figuring it was my arrival- got up to answer it. This in turn made Mitsuhiko even more embarrassed, since he'd intended to give the gift to the Professor to give to you. He quickly handed you the box before stammering out a 'Happy Golden week' and turning to go. You managed to stall him (probably by saying something like 'just a moment' or 'wait') and opened the gift then and there. At the look of surprise on your face, Mitsuhiko probably rambled about how he'd gone out of his way to get it and how he hoped you'd like it. About this time was when I arrived, so Mitsuhiko quickly left. And that's that."

"You missed one thing in your deduction. A rather important matter, at least to some," Ai remarked, obviously amused.

Conan raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Do you have any idea why Tsuburaya-kun was so flustered on thinking you'd seen something?"

The shrunken detective frowned, mulling over his deduction in his head. Upstairs, the doorbell rang and Haibara turned back to her computer.

"That's probably your parents, you'd best go."

Snapping out of his thoughts, he stood, "Ah yes..."

Once he was half-way up the stairs, he heard Ai's voice quietly whisper behind him.

"Perhaps we'll find out if you'll be the type to kiss and tell as well after tonight, Kudo-kun."

And with that, everything clicked into place.

Heading up the stairs, and almost wishing he'd arrived to the house earlier to see the rest of the exchange between Mitsuhiko and Ai, Conan sighed on realizing that his young friend had managed to do something he was still struggling to do. Hell, even the night before he'd only managed a light peck on the cheek without totally freaking out.

Shaking his head at himself, he began to wonder if all the people in the city he knew were going to have a more romantic Golden week Eve than him.

"Heh, I bet even KID is fairing better than this..." He thought to himself, thinking back to the other teen's female friend.

"There's my Shin-chan!" His Mother's voice cut into his thoughts, and Shinichi realized that despite everything up to this point- the worst was yet to come.

The Kudo family was never what one would call normal. Between an actress Mother, a novelist Father and a high-school detective son- it would have been odd had they been normal. A point Shinichi was always reminded of when they visited. While most parents would have been terrified to find out their only son had been shrunk to a child and was targeted by a mysterious dark organization- Yukiko and Yusaku took it in stride. Or more specifically- Yukiko thought it was wonderful to have her seven year old little Shin-chan back and Yusaku merely nodded and told his son that it would teach him to be a better detective.

But when it came down to family dinners- especially when all involved knew that Shinichi was Conan- the talk always gravitated to one particular subject. Namely, a certain girl named Mouri Ran.

"Shin-chan, did you wash that sweater several times so it'll look like you've worn it a lot?" Yukiko asked as they sat down at the table.

Conan sighed, "Yes..."

"Good."

"Though I am suspicious as to why you'd think to tell me to do that."

Yusaku shrugged, "A good question indeed. Where did the idea come from?"

Yukiko frowned, snatching the dinner roll from her husband's hands.

"Perhaps you should investigate your closet, dear."

And so- the dinner table fiasco began. First, the questions. What was he wearing that night? What was he going to say? Did he have the gift wrapped more so than the bag of the store it was bought from? Was he just going to say he liked her or that he loved her?

Each of the questions were dealt with, with increasing levels of embarrassment, as Shinichi resisted the urge to act his apparent age and start throwing food at his parents in exasperation. At least, he realized, the Professor looked somewhat sympathetic.

Secondly, came the advice. First, be as honest as you can be; it'll mean a lot to her. ("But you just told me to lie about the sweater!" "That's different, Shin-chan.") Second, be on time. ("Unlike a certain someone's manuscript deadlines- Ran shouldn't be avoided or let down." "Since when did I let my editor down?" "Didn't you have something due yesterday?" "I was...busy." "Busy avoiding his calls.") Third, no signing autographs- unless it's for Ran.

The last, of course, led to a full blown discussion of why that advice was even relevant. ("Yukiko, I thought you were over that." "Over it? Shin-chan, can you believe him? Fondling another woman's...assets- and acting so casual about it?" "She asked if I would sign a bra at the book-signing. Though awkward, it was only good PR for me to agree. How was I to know she meant the one she was still wearing?" "Shinichi, promise me you won't sign anyone's bra- unless it's Ran-chan's." "Mother! I can't believe you!")

Finally, the clock ticked closer to eight and the family dinner was winding down. And by the time Ai came upstairs to let Conan know it was time to get the antidote in his system, he was more than happy to leave his parents upstairs to continue their discussion about what had happened the night before when he'd gone with Ran to the concert. True, they would no doubt press the Professor for details- but at least downstairs, the sound would be muffled.

"As you ready?" Haibara asked, handing him the pill. He nodded.

It was now or never and if there was one thing his day so far had convinced him- it was that he was going to force himself to tell Ran how he felt or die trying.

As he swallowed the pill and reached for the Paikaru, Shinichi hoped the fates didn't take the last part of his inner vow too seriously.

His head was still a bit fuzzy, but granted- that was natural given that he just returned to his usual size. He'd attired himself in the sweater Ran had knitted him and a pair of pants his Mother had gotten from their house across the street. In the few minutes it took to see if the medicine had indeed taken effect, Shinichi decided he'd inquire into the situation between his young friends.

"So Mitsuhiko kissed you?"

Haibara blinked, coughing lightly and turning to face the computer, "Something like that."

"Probably at his older sister's suggestion if he asked her for love-advice. I surely can't see Genta thinking that up. What did he get you anyways? I know the other day the poor kid was pretty confused as to what you'd like."

She reached in the box and tossed over a baseball hat with the logo for the Big Osaka soccer team on it. On the hat's bill, there was something written in black marker.

"Ryusuke Higo, #9..."

"Apparently, Tsuburaya-kun ran into Higo-san on a fluke at the mall and asked him to autograph this for me."

"Wow- that is a great gift. No wonder you looked so happy," Shinichi teased.

"Shouldn't you be delivering a heart-felt gift about now, Kudo-kun?"

Shinichi stood, stretching his muscles out, and walked over to stand behind the small girl and her computer. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he smiled.

"Thanks, Haibara."

"Oh, and one more thing…" Ai started listing off her usual warnings, noted that she would come along with the Professor to monitor him and much to his surprise, even gave him a few words of encouragement. Finally, they headed upstairs and said their goodbyes to Shinichi's parents.

"So this is what that antidote does, hmm?" Yusaku asked, eyeing him from head to toe and obviously thinking up ways to work a twist like this into an upcoming novel.

Yukiko just hugged him, commenting on how her boy had grown. Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Now you'd better call in the morning with details or I'm calling Ran-chan."

"Mother!"

"And don't do anything I wouldn't do, son."

"Yusaku!"

"What?"

Yukiko planted her hands firmly on her hips, "They're still kids! At least let him give her the ring first before telling him to make a move!"

"You're the one telling him to autograph her bra."

"Um- Mom, Dad, I'm going now…"

The two stopped their bickering for a moment to give him one last hug and a wish of good luck. And as the clock ticked past 7:47 pm, they headed out.

On the car ride there, he sat in complete silence trying to rehearse everything in his mind so it didn't come out wrong or he didn't chicken out like he had in the past. But as he glanced out the window, his eyes caught sight of a familiar looking vehicle.

A Black Porsche, 356A.

Squinting his eyes closed, he cursed every deity he could think of for his horrible luck.

"Agasa, please tell me- was that..."

"Gin and Vodka," Haibara remarked, eyes cold, "Looks like it's your lucky night."

Biting his lip, and hoping that two hours was enough- he sighed.

"Agasa, follow without them noticing."

Ran was starting to get worried. Eight o'clock had rolled around without a single word, call or anything. Once again, she was starting to think that Shinichi was going to be a no-show.

Turning on the late news and listening for any big crimes that Shinichi could have gotten himself mixed up in, she heard a light tap on the door.

"In other news, there was a mysterious explosion tonight at the..." The newscaster was cut off as Ran flipped off the TV.

Slowly, she crossed the room; finding that Shinichi's tardiness had made her not only worried but very on-edge that something bad could happen as well.

"Ran? Ran, it's me," The familiar voice called through.

Relief washed over her features as she pulled open the door, but she quickly took to frowning, "Shinichi- where the hell were you! I was so..."

Her words trailed off as she got a good look at him. Apologetic smile on his face, he gestured to his sweater.

"Sorry, Ran. I think you'll have to knit me another one. I got caught up in something on the way over and couldn't risk your safety by calling you."

Sure enough, Shinichi was smudged in what looked like ashes and there were small pieces of debris still residing on his shoulders and in his hair. The blue sweater she'd give him, had a few burn marks in it and looked even more worse-for-wear than Shinichi himself did.

But despite the fact he was late, and that he'd just ruined the sweater she'd given him, Ran couldn't help but smile.

"...As long as you're okay."

He nodded, "A bit disappointed that I didn't get there in time, but a-okay. Can I...come in?"

"Oh!" Ran stepped back to allow him into the room, "Sorry. I was just..."

"It's okay," Shinichi replied, rubbing a smudge of dirt from his face with a sneeze.

"Let me go get you something to clean off with and something clean to put on," She said, rushing towards the bathroom.

The teen detective watched her with a smile for a moment before walking over to the blinds and glancing out. On the sidewalk below, Professor Agasa gave him a thumbs up.

All clear. No one saw us or followed us.

At that, Shinichi sighed in relief. They were safe, and most importantly- Ran wasn't dragged into anything.

"Is your case really that dangerous?" Ran asked, returning with a washcloth and one of her Father's shirts for Shinichi to change into.

Shinichi looked up, smile not quite hiding the seriousness in his eyes.

"Be as honest as you can be. It'll mean a lot to her," His mother's words echoed in his mind.

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

Pausing in her steps, Ran blinked. Even when he was in full-out Detective-Mode, he was still worrying about her?

"So um... what happened tonight?" She asked casually, reaching up to wipe his face with the cloth. He flinched at the cold water before cocking his head to one side and shrugging.

He could kinda-sorta answer, right?

"Just saw one of the suspects on my case acting rather shady around this abandoned technical plant. I haven't had a lead on him in awhile so I went after him. But, it turns out that while we were trying not be spotted out front, they got out the backside and any victims and/or evidence was destroyed in the blast."

"The explosion..." Ran murmured, remembering the small bit she'd caught of it on the news.

Shinichi just shook his head, "Yah, the news'll just write it off an accident or at most, a prank or arson. These guys are good at covering their tracks though, so the truth is still yet to be revealed."

Smiling Ran taped him on the nose, "And knowing you and your soot-covered body you were trying to reveal that truth when the explosion went off. Am I right?"

"Something like that," He replied, smiling back.

"Here, change into this while I get your Birthday gift..." She remarked, handing over the white shirt.

Before he could protest or say much more than a muffled "But Ran..." she'd already left the room. Shaking his head, more at his own predicament than anything else, Shinichi tugged the sweater off and put the clean white shirt on and buttoned it up. Putting his hand to his pocket, he felt the small ring box sitting there and sighed in relief.

"Good, it's still there. I figured with my luck that it would have dropped out when I was running out of the fires."

Ran returned, still smiling, as she deposited the box on his lap.

"Okay, here you go."

He looked down to the box, trying to gauge the best way to act surprised, and then promptly tore into it like an excited child on Birthday morning. Ran barely stifled a laugh.

Inside was not only the Suit, but another sweater as well.

"I had a feeling that you might need another one," She remarked, eyeing the burnt one sitting on the back of the sofa, "And it looks like I was right."

Shinichi grinned sheepishly, "Thanks Ran, I should probably try not to wear it out when I'm on cases."

"It can't be helped. You'd get yourself into trouble even if you weren't on a case."

He rubbed the back of his head, "Got me there. Oh um..." He gulped, sitting the box aside and trying to think up all the things he'd planned to say. "Ran, I...err...I'm sorry but..."

Ran sighed, "It's okay if you didn't have time to get me anything. The concert last night can be my present if that makes you feel any better."

"No! I mean..." He took a deep breath to compose his thoughts.

"Come on Shinichi. This might be your only chance for a long time so just spit it out!"

"Ran, here- I did get you something," He muttered, unceremoniously shoving the ring box into her hands.

Slowly, she opened it- her eyes flitting between Shinichi and the box in her hands. Once it was opened, he could hear her small gasp in surprise. That was his cue, so before she could talk or get him off track by thanking him- he spoke up.

"Ran, I know things have been rough this last year and I'm sorry I can't always be there for you. So I...I wanted to promise you that..." He took a deep breath and echoed the same words he'd had to tell her as Conan before, "That even if I die trying, I'll solve this case and come back. So, wait for me Ran...no matter what. I...I..."

He looked away, inwardly berating himself for stalling now, "Damnit, I just can't seem to say the rest. This happened last time and then..."

Shinichi heard Ran's light laughter and jerked his head back in her direction.

"Idiot. You don't have to say anymore than that," She murmured, her expression showing that she was clearly holding back tears.

"I-I don't?" He asked, blinking.

Ran shook her head, "I may not be a famous detective, but I don't think you're going to ask me for your school notes after saying all that."

He laughed nervously in reply. "Ran...so you've almost always known then, haven't you?"

"You got me there."

Smirking, Ran innocently shrugged, "Then again, I can't seem to figure out exactly what it is you are trying to say."

He could tell she was just as nervous, but it all came down to him. She had to hear it to believe it for certain.

"Maybe your idol, Holmes, would know what to do," Ran said casually.

Shinichi's eyes lit up, "Thanks Ran, you just made this a little bit easier for me."

Clearing his throat, he replied, "Once you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Ran seemed to contemplate that in context of the situation, her eyes widening as she realized what he was practically outright admitting, "But then it...you..."

Shinichi glanced at the floor, hoping his voice would continue even if he was too jumbled up in his mind to think clearly, "I guess that's my problem. Holmes was never much of a romantic."

"Shinichi..."

Looking back up at her, he mustered up every ounce of courage he had and spoke.

"I guess what I've been trying to say is..." He waited, almost expecting this to be the instant that the antidote wore off or the phone rang- anything. But on realizing that, for once, time was on his side, he managed to finally say it.

"I really like you, Ran and thanks for looking out for Conan ."

Confusing Ran asked " thanks for Conan, why".

Blushingly Shinichi Replied" because talking with Conan made me realize , my children will be really lucky for having mother like you".

In the car outside, Haibara watched the clock intently.

"He looked pretty determined when he went in. What did you say to him earlier?" Professor Agasa asked, glancing up at the windows.

"If I have learned one thing in my life, it's to live for the moment- always looking towards the future. Good luck and may all your dreams come true," She recited, "It was the message Higo-san left along with the hat he signed."

"Your gift from Mitsuhiko-kun?"

Haibara smiled, "It looks like the message inspired both of us. Now we just have to wait and see if Kudo-kun is as brave as Tsuburaya-kun was. He's only got about thirty more minutes to try."

Listening to his words Ran thought " Is Shinichi indirectly trying to say her that he wanted to live whole life with her and have family with her." The second after the thoughts in mind- everything started happening in a rush. Ran murmuring his name before practically tackling him to the ground in an embrace. Her quiet whisper in his ear, "Me to, Shinichi. I really like you." And that nagging voice in his subconscious going "Kiss her, damn it! Just kiss her. He kissed her.

As the two pulled apart blushing, he saw Ran's face light up with an expression he'd never seen before as she shyly glanced away.

"The perfect gift indeed," He thought to himself, touched just as she was by the last few moments that turned all their awkward romance up into that point into something more than just a "I think he/she loves me."

Something in his brain finally processed, and he managed to speak.

"Good night, Ran."

She elbowed him in the ribs, bringing all the awkwardness back to normal.

"Happy Birthday, you mystery freak."

They spent the rest of their time together much like they had in the past. Taunting and teasing each other, Ran threatening him with karate if he was ever late again and Shinichi ending up on a tangent about Sherlock Holmes. It was just like it always had been between them- except now there was that small little ring on Ran's finger to remind them that there was more than just friendship here. A promise from Shinichi that he'd find a way back after his case and a promise from Ran that she'd wait for him.

Shinichi's cell phone rang, a message from Agasa that he had leave since the antidote was about to wear off. Normally, he'd press his luck, but he figured after the run-in with the Black Organization and everything else- the last thing he needed to do was to ruin it all in a moment by testing the boundaries.

As he hung up the phone, he gave Ran a lopsided smile. "Sorry, looks like I gotta go."

He knew normally she'd protest, or at least demand to know why, but it seemed like this time she understood.

"Okay, can I call you tomorrow?"

He nodded, "Sure. If I don't pick up, leave a message and I'll get back to you."

She stood, following him to the door.

"Thanks again, for the gift and all," He said, rubbing the back of his head.

Ran smiled, "Thank you- for tonight, for everything."

The two paused, each standing on one side of the doorway and waiting for the other to make the first move. Unlike the kiss before, this time they were acutely aware of what they were doing and not just going by impulsive action.

On feeling the burning sensation starting to prick at his body, Shinichi knew he had to hurry. But before he could move, Ran had leaned up to kiss him.

"Goodnight, Shinichi," She said breathlessly as they pulled apart.

He blushed, coughing lightly, "Goodnight, Ran. Talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," She replied with a smile, watching as he walked down the stairs until she couldn't see his shadow anymore.

It was a little after one when a knock sounded from the front door and Ran went to answer it. Her Father had returned minutes earlier and had immediately taken to inquiring about the ring on her finger and where the "good for nothing" that gave it to her was. Luckily for her, he was also slightly drunk and so it wasn't long before he fell asleep on the couch.

Walking to the door, she could hear Professor Agasa's voice calling to her.

"Hello? Anyone awake? Mouri-san?"

She opening it to find the portly professor holding a sleeping Conan in his arms.

"Sorry for disturbing you so late, but I figured he might want to wake up at home on Birthday morning."

Ran smiled down at the boy and gently took him into her arms. That's when she noticed the small red box he gripped in his hand.

"What's this?"

"I believe it's for you. I think he wanted to give it to you tonight but didn't want to bother you when Shinichi visited," He replied, not letting on that he'd made sure to put it in Conan's hands before coming up the stairs.

Ran blushed at the name, "Oh, I see."

"Speaking of", Agasa asked with a grin, "I see Shinichi managed to get here okay?"

She nodded, shifting Conan's weight in her arms a bit, "He was a little late, but that's Shinichi for you. I think I would have been more worried had he been on time."

Agasa shook his head, "I couldn't agree more. Now, I don't mean to pry but... that ring, did he perhaps...?"

She blushed again, nodding silently.

"I'll have to tell his parents then. His mother has been waiting for you two to become an official couple for years," He remarked with a wink.

"Professor!"

"Shh- don't wake Conan on my account; I'll be going now. Good night"

"Happy Birthday Conan," Ran echoed, closing the door behind him and taking Conan into the bedroom. Once she had him settled under the blankets, she delicately pried the box from his hands.

"To Ran-neechan, I this week was for romantic couples but it thank you gift for you for taking care of me." She read aloud, before caving in and opening it. She could apologize in the morning for opening it early if Conan got upset. But her curiosity really was getting the best of her.

Sliding off the green bow, Ran opened the small box- her eyes widening in surprise.

He knew before he even opened his eyes that he was back to being Conan again. Vague memories of practically collapsing in pain at the base of the stairs and Agasa and Haibara helping him into the car before driving away flitted through his mind. They'd probably taken him back to Agasa's to sleep off the after-effects of the antidote wearing off and given Ran a call to let her know he was spending the night.

But much to his surprise, that wasn't where he woke up. He was back at the Mouri residence, in his bed there, and- there next to his bed was Ran, who it appeared had fallen asleep beside with her head pillowed on her arms.

Shaking his head at her, he lifted a blanket to drape over where she sat on the ground. That's when he noticed the glint of gold from around her neck.

It was the necklace he planned to give her as Conan, something the Professor had no doubt brought over the night before when he brought him there, and around the bottom of the chain hung the promise ring.

He had to admit it was a rather fitting combination; Shinichi's ring on Conan's necklace- two in one, so to speak.

Shifting back on the pillows, he looked over at Ran's content features and smiled.

" Good morning, Ran. From both of us."

Few hour later

It's for you Conan. Ayumi said shyly. With ... ..with ... ..the help of someone.

Ayumi ... .Not needed. It's for my birthday ...

I know but it's like that. For ... to thank you for everything.

Conan opened the package. He was surprised to see inside a black suit with a burgundy shirt. He did not know what to answer.

This ... it's not me who bought ... but I had to give it to you. I knew what was inside. She told me.

At the agreement of the word "She," Conan blushed again. He knew who it was and to know it made him blush with pleasure.

It makes you happy ? Ayumi said to him smiling.

Yes, a lot. Thank you.

Ran return home and asked Conan " how was morning today and where you ran off".

Good and yours Ran-neechan?

Me ? As usual. Otherwise nothing special. You can put that on the table please.

Yes.

She gave the boy a plate of rice and she took the meat dish.

We only hugged both of us today to eat. Dad is still on the crime scene this afternoon. They have not found the culprit yet. It's strange. Dad normally goes faster.

 _Yes, when I'm here._

Ran and Conan sat down to eat. There had been a long moment of silence between the two. Until Conan took courage with both hands and spoke.

Ran-neechan ... ..

Yes Conan?

Ayumi gave me the gift and I realized that it was you who bought it for me.

Ahrg that naughty! I told her not to say anything. Ran answered with a smile.

I just have a question.

Ran raised his head. Conan was watching him.

Why did you buy it from me? It's for my birthday and it must have cost you dearly.

Moment of silence

Because…..

His look was filled with emotion.

To thank you for everything. You are like a little brother to me. You are a very good friend. My confidant a bit like ... a bit like Shinichi ... I miss him ...

Moment of silence

\- But you are here. She continued. And you make me forget this feeling of lack and sadness. You make me smile.

Tears fell on his cheek.

Conan was feeling bad. He did not like to see her so sad. He got up and went to her side and took her in her arms.

Your gift makes me very happy. Thank you very much Ran-neechan.

Conan paused for a moment, before he gave a wide smile. "Then you have already seen my one gift so can I give you another?"

Ran nodded. "Sure."

Conan hurried to his room and came back a minute later with a flower bouquet badly hidden behind his back.

Conan held out a bouquet of Lotus, Lavender, Forget-me-nots, and pink Camellias. "These are from me! Happy Birthday!"

Ran's eyes focused on the Forget-me-nots; she had always thought of them as a romantic flower and now a seven-year-old had given her some. "Ne, Conan-kun, why'd you pick these flowers?"

Conan shrugged. "I thought they were pretty. Ne, don't you like them?"

Ran waved her hand franticly assuring the little boy that they were very much appreciated.

If the young woman had bothered to look up what the flowers meant she would have been rather surprised at Conan's "random" choices.

Lotus –Purity, chasity, and eloquence

Lavender – Devotion

Forget-me-nots – True Love; memories

Pink Camellias – Longing for you

Thanks to you Conan. And get ready we are going out . Heiji and Kazuha will join us soon and so Sonoko as well.

Birthday party for Conan

Few days later..

"Taku," Hattori Heiji – High school Detective of the West – said in an exasperated tone. "Just tell her already."

"I told you," Edogawa Conan, shrunken Kudo Shinichi – High school Detective of the East – replied, "I've tried, but I can't seem to get the words out."

Ran had gotten free tickets to a movie and invited Heiji and Kazuha to come over and watch with them. Heiji agreed immediately, knowing that he would be seeing the first-grade-high schooler again. Kazuha came along with him.

Now it was the night before the movie and Ran, Kazuha and Sonoko – who Ran also invited – were in Ran's room, while Detective Mouri had left to play Mahjong with his friends. Conan and Heiji were hanging out in his office.

"Well, what's preventing you?" Heiji asked.

"Despite Ran now being safe whether I tell her or not, I just can't seem to tell her," Conan replied. "And when I see her looking sad, I begin to tell her, but then something interrupts. Like that poor excuse for a detective bursting in the door all drunk.

"Naru hodo," Heiji said, thinking with his head resting upon his hand. "Well, you'd have to explain all of those times when you used fake alibis to 'prove' that you're not Kudo."

"Exactly, and the only reason we're not bankrupt and in debt is because of Sleeping Kogoro. Without that act, who knows what would happen to them."

"I see the situation you're in."

"What situation?" a voice asked. Conan and Heiji turned around.

"R-Ran-nee-chan," Conan said.

"Ah, he was just telling me about a science project for school," Heiji said quickly, "and how he doesn't know what to do for it."

"Oh, well I'm sure you'll figure it out, Conan-kun," Ran encouraged. "After all, you're very smart for your age."

"Heh heh," Conan said, rubbing the back of his head, keeping up his act. It's more like I'm very small for my age, he thought.

"I'm hungry!" Heiji said suddenly.

"Eh?" Conan and Ran asked.

"W-Well, I didn't have any dinner . . ." Heiji explained.

"Oh, well then do you want me to cook something for you?" Ran asked.

"Ooo, can I help?" Kazuha asked, overhearing the conversation. Sonoko followed her to Ran.

"Of course!" Ran replied.

" Then let's make . . ." Sonoko said as the trio of girls walked into the kitchen.

Conan and Heiji let out a sigh of relief.

"There, I saved you again," Heiji said.

"I thought you would tell her," Conan said.

"I-it was habit! Habit!" Heiji said, not knowing why he was defending himself.

"Why don't you boys go for a walk or something while we cook?" Kazuha called.

"Hai, hai," Heiji said, walking out the door with Conan trailing behind.

"Hey, Ran-chan," Sonoko said, bringing out the flour and sugar and placing them on the counter.

"Nani?"

"There's a festival tomorrow. Maybe we could go before the movie. I heard the fortunes there are very accurate."

"Sonoko, fortunes again?" Ran asked.

"You never know when your luck might change," she replied.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Heiji asked the detective.

"I don't know," Conan replied, "What would you do?"

"Considering the fact that I don't know what I'd do if I was the one poisoned instead of you in the first place, then I have no idea. Just tell her already. Get up the courage somehow."

Conan just shook his head and continued walking down the sidewalk as the sun set with an orange glow. Suddenly, his phone started to ring.

"Dinner's ready!" Ran's voice rang out from the cell when Conan answered it.

"Okay!" Conan replied. "We're heading back now!"

As the two detectives walked into the entrance of the Mouri Detective Agency, the delicious smell of Ran's cooking wafted over them.

"Tadaima!" Conan said.

"Okaeri!" Ran replied.

"That smells delicious!" Heiji exclaimed.

"Of course," Sonoko replied, "It's Ran's cooking, along with ours."

"What did you guys make?" Conan asked.

"Well," Ran said as they walked into the kitchen, "Due to a certain someone, we ran out of ingredients and the only thing I could think of to make at the time was Omurice and Onigiri."

Conan ran over to the table and sat down, saying, "Itadakimasu!"

Everyone followed him and, after sitting down, echoed, "Itadakimasu!"

Conan took a bite and said, "Oishii, Ran!" with a childish grin.

Ran laughed and said, "Arigatou, Conan-kun."

After eating, Heiji located the remote and turned on the TV.

"Hey, isn't this the prequel to the movie we're watching?" Kazuha asked when she saw what had come on.

"Really?" Heiji asked, "What movie are we watching again?"

"You forgot? How could you forget?!"

Heiji rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, I guess I was just so excited at seeing Kuuu-onan," he quickly covered up. That was close. "that I'm not sure I even heard it in the first place."

"Taku!" Kazuha sighed.

"It's the Guardian of the Secret Chamber," Ran said.

"Eh? Isn't that one having to do with a murder mystery?" Heiji asked.

"Yeah, and no spoiling it for the rest of us if you solve it," Kazuha warned.

"Hai, hai." Heiji said. Then a thought struck him. "Why do you want to watch a creepy murder mystery anyway?"

"W-Well," Ran said.

"Oh, I remember the culprit in this!" Conan exclaimed. "Well, more liked I re-discovered," he corrected. Phew, Ran thought, Saved by Conan-kun.

"It's the-"

"Shhhhhhh!" Sonoko and Kazuha shushed.

"We haven't seen it in a while so we forgot," Kazuha said.

"So don't spoil it!" Sonoko added.

"Hai, hai," Conan sighed.

They watched the rest of the movie, and Conan almost spoiled it for them again until Sonoko threatened to tape his mouth shut with duct tape.

When the movie ended, Sonoko said, "Hey, Ran."

"Huh? Nani?" Ran replied.

"Don't you think Conan is a lot like Shinichi?"

"O-of course. Why do you ask?"

"Well, the way he notices things, how he knows so much, how smart he is . . . He even solved a case in front of you before!"

Many, Conan corrected in thought, Except those were as Sleeping Kogoro.

"Heiji mistakenly calls Conan by Kudo . . . He even looks like Kudo Shinichi for goodness sake!"

Ran pulled Sonoko off to the side.

This isn't good, Conan thought, hiding around a corner so he could listen in on their conversation.

"What are you trying to get at?" Ran asked.

"I'm saying," Sonoko replied, "that that kid is a little too much like that detective geek."

"Well, he is the son of one of Shinichi's distant relatives . . ."

"But for a distant relative, wouldn't that be too much?"

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe . . . Maybe Conan is saying he's someone he isn't."

Yikes! Conan thought. Does Sonoko suspect me . . . ?

"I'm not saying he's Shinichi or anything, that would be impossible-"

Phew.

"-but maybe he's not really Edogawa Conan."

Ran decided to play along for now. "But then who would he be?"

"Don't ask me," Sonoko said. "Just not who he says he is."

To make sure this secret conversation didn't go any farther, Conan suddenly jumped out and said in his child voice, "What are you guys talking about, Ran-neesan?"

Mentally, Sonoko noted that where the kid had popped out wasn't in the direction of Detective Mouri's office, where they had been watching TV.

But before Sonoko could question the detective about this, Ran replied, "Oh, it was nothing important. But now you should go to bed, Conan-kun. You'll have to wake up early tomorrow so we can get to the movie theater on time." Then she said to Sonoko, "We're not going to the festival. There won't be enough time."

"Aw," Sonoko replied.

"Huh? It's that early?" Conan asked.

"That said," Heiji added as he walked in with Kazuha, overhearing the short conversation and ignoring Conan's question, "we should all go to bed."

"Hai!" Sonoko, Ran, Conan and Kazuha agreed.

"So?" Heiji asked in Conan's room after they all got ready for bed, "What were those two talking about?"

"Sonoko suspects I'm not who I say I am, but not necessarily Kudo Shinichi," Conan replied.

"That's the 'Deduction Queen' for you," Heiji commented.

"She's only the Deduction Queen because Sleeping Kogoro wasn't available at the time," Conan retorted.

"Hai, hai."

"How are you liking your lemon pie Conan-kun?"

"Uh y-yea. It's great Ran-neechan."

She tapped his nose. "It's just one of the things you and Shinichi have in common" He turned a deep red "What's wrong Conan-kun? You're all red"

"NOTHING!" he ran as fast as he could away

"Good night Ran-neechan. I'm going to bed" he muttered

Conan dragged himself to the third from of the building and slumped into bed, not taking off his glasses, not even changing.

Ran peeked from the cracked open door. 'Geez Conan-kun' Walking in quietly she slowly changed him and took off his glasses

'Its amazing how much they look alike, and how their birthdays are on the same day. Maybe…' She shook her head. 'No that's impossible'

Conan mumbled in his sleep "Antidote…please…meet Ran"

Ran wondered about it. What antidote? And the most important question of all. Why did he call her Ran? Where's the usual –neechan?

She brushed it off as she started working on his shirt. Something caught her eye, a scar. It was the scar that Conan got when he protect the detective boys in the cave.

Above it was the scar that he got when he was stabbed. Heiji's charm had protected him that time.

She raised his head to put it on. That's when she past a scar she never noticed.

A small line right under his left eye ran from his nose to his forehead.

'Where did this come from?' She thought about all the times Conan had been injured on his face.

There were a lot of time but none of them left a scar like that. Then she thought to time Shinichi got scars.

~~Flasback~~

"Now Ran, be careful since you're on a boat right now." Yelled Kogoro as the boat sailed away "And listen to Yukiko-san!

"Hai!" yelled a 7 year old Ran "Shinichi isn't this great?"

"What? Surrounded by a bunch of old men and fish guts for 7 hours in the middle of the sea?" Said Shinichi sarcastically "Yea it's great"

"Geez! You're so uptight!" pouted Ran "I'm going to learn how to fish then give it to Okaa-san so we could have a family dinner. Then…we could be a family again"

Shinichi loosened up a bit "I-I guess learning how to fish wouldn't be that bad"

"Yay! Shinichi's going to learn how to fish with me!" Ran jumped up in joy and hugged him.

He blushed a bit but I quickly faded. But not quick enough for his mom to see the redness. She winked at him. Which he shot back a shut-up glance.

"Konichiwa! I'm Momotose Ukita your fisherman. Would you like to learn how to fish minna?"

"Haii!" replied Ran raising up her hand while the other forcefully carried Shinichi's.

"Ok first let's get you some fishing poles."

The hefty man helped choose their poles and ran the line through it.

They positioned themselves on the boat with their lines ready.

"First you use your hand and use your index finger to hold this part." He demonstrated and the kids followed. "Next you unlatch this part" They continued to repeat what they've been seen

"After you cast!" he threw the line into the water with a backswing. The 2 were a little skeptical on this part. "Don't worry it's easy." He held Ran and helped her cast.

"1, 2, 3!" The line flew into the water with a splash. "Good job Ojou-chan." Ran smiled as the old man praised her. "Now comes the hard part, waiting."

He walked over to Shinichi to help him. "Just throw it."

"Ok." With a powerful throw the line flew forward a couple feet.

"Nice one! Now let's wait minna."

3 hours past with nothing on the other end. That was until they both felt a tug.

"Momotose-occhan!" called out Shinichi

"Seems like you got a catch boya. Ok now slowly turn that part." Shinichi did as he was told and slowly wrangled the fish in.

When he finally got it up it was a tiny minnow. He deadpanned at his 'great catch'.

"That's it! I'm not leaving this spot till I get a bigger fish!" He casted his hook once again this time more determined.

Ran smiled at her best friend enjoying himself as she also felt a tug. "Momotose-san!" She yelled which caused the old man to come racing towards her.

"You got a bite too? Ok let's do this thing!" He instructed her to do the same thing as Shinichi and slowly bring the fish closer to them.

The fish fought a bit but finally made it into the boat. "This is a beauty Ran-chan! Good job!" He patted her hair getting it a bit wet."

From the corner of her eye she saw Shinichi clearly jealous of her catch. He turned away and focused on his catch.

The two continued fished for another hour before turning in for lunch. They didn't speak to each other. As he walked away from her, she grasped his wrist.

"What are you doing Shinichi? Everybody is over here." Asked Ran innocently

"I don't want to be with everyone." He pulled away

"Why?"

"It's nothing." He walked away in silence. Only the sound of waves could be heard.

"Shinichi!" She tried to chase after him but was stopped. Someone had lifted her off the feet, literally.

She turned her head to see Momotose-san. "You know you shouldn't run on boat."

He placed her down. "Sorry for not obeying the rules."

"Its fine. Why were you chasing that boy in the first place?"

"I think Shinichi hates me."

"Now, now why would you say that?"

"Well, he's all cold right now."

"I think I know that reason. You see at this age boys are rather competitive. It might seem like he hate you but in reality he just jealous that you caught a fish before him."

She scoffed "No way Shinichi could be jealous of me. After all he's cool and stuff."

"Why don't you figure it out." He gave a slight push to the direction Shinichi walked in.

"Hey, sorry Ran for being so cold. I-I was a bit jealous that you were better than me."

She turned a bit pink. "I forgive you Shinichi, let's go get a BIG fish for everyone."

They shook on it.

The 2 gathered at the fishing spot and Shinichi let Ran throw it since she had better luck.

"Ok, I'm going to do it!"

She flung he arm back, unfortunately Shinichi was standing right behind her. The hook scraped his skin and barely avoided his eye.

It started bleeding. Ran immediately dropped the pole and ran towards him. "Shinichi!"

"Don't worry, it's just a scratch. It would heal. Don't worry about me and go get a BIG fish for all of us." He plopped down on a chair further back as his mom helped him with the scratch.

~~~End of flashback~~~

"That day I caught us a huge fish and we were all able to gather and have a great time." Ran had finished changing Conan

"But why would Conan-kun have a scar that Shinichi got when he was a kid. Unless…. Conan is Shinichi."

Again she shook it off, she had already suspected it various time and each time It was thrown out due to lack of evidence or the fact that he was able to squirm out due to an alibi that she provided.

This was dirty was she was going to try it. Sure he was half-awake but she needed answers.

"Conan-kun?"

"Hmm?"

" do you know something about Shinichi?"

"Yes, Mysterious…. Poison case….antidote…Shinichi…...wants back to Ran." He mumbled

It was barely understandable but she may had her answers.

Next day ,after the tiring day Ran went to her bed earlier and told Conan today was tiring day he should also go to bed. Yes Conan replied and went to his room.

Meanwhile, Ran went to her bed and was doing some deducing of her own. Sonoko was right, she thought, but if there's anyone he would be, it would have to be Shinichi, right? But that doesn't make sense. There's as much evidence against it as there is for it. And how could he become small, anyway? It's not like this is a manga or anything . . . But if he was, everything would make sense. I don't know what to think!

Ran shook her head; she just didn't get it. Suddenly a along doubt came in her mind Conan Edogawa, her cute, little 7-year old adopted brother was really… Shinichi Kudo, high school teen detective. Her childhood friend that she had never been apart from for more than a short period of time.

Ran had told herself so many times that what she was thinking stemmed from heartache. Despite what she told others, she knew that she missed that idiot more than she ever thought possible. It wasn't too surprising that she saw Shinichi everywhere, especially in a little kid who just happened to resemble him so much.

Then she remember few week earlier when she was ill Conan confess that he was Shinichi and told his reasons to hide but she could not remember of it. Then she also see him hurt in his eyes when he denied his confession.

 _Yeah, it's just a coincidence_ , her inner voice said snidely. _Conan just happens to look like Shinichi, act like Shinichi, have the same blood type, birthday, lack of singing ability, and love of soccer and Sherlock Holmes as Shinichi…_

Ran gave a huge sigh of aggravation then she swung her legs to get out of bed. She obviously wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

Fifteen minutes later, she sat in her dad's desk chair with a cup of tea in her hand, staring up at the night sky. She thought back to yesterday afternoon and the event that caused her current aggravation. It had been a perfect day for an outing, so Ran had agreed to take Conan and his friends ice-skating.

While she was still lacing her shoes, the children had already gone out on the ice. Ran had just tied the last knot when she heard Ayumi comment to Conan about what a good skater he was.

Conan rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and replied, "It's no big deal. My dad taught me how to skate in Hawa- _Houston_ back in America. We went to Texas on vacation once!"

"Wow!" Ayumi exclaimed.

Conan had blithely gone on to skate around the rink, leaving Ran once again feeling like the world had slipped out from under her.

Ran was certain that Conan had been about to say 'Hawaii.' That in itself was not a problem. The problem was that Conan had apparently felt a need to lie. But why did he? Conan would have no reason to hide that he had a connection to Hawaii… but _Shinichi_ would. That may have seemed like a tenuous connection to others, but to Ran it was another oddity to add to the mystery that was Conan Edogawa.

Part of her wanted to storm into Conan's room, shake him awake, and force him to confess. Another part reminded her that strategy had never, ever worked. How many times had her 'reasoning' fallen apart leaving her feeling like a fool and probably traumatizing poor Conan?

Ran's s shoulders drooped. She hated feeling like this. She had always thought of herself as a sensible person, but here she was being so silly! Well, maybe she was a silly person. After all, sensible people weren't afraid of ghosts or believed in supernatural stuff, right?

But maybe it was her open-mindedness (Shinichi would probably call it empty-headedness, Ran thought scowling) that enabled her to entertain these notions. Ran was momentarily cheered, but then she sank her head into her arms with a groan.

Who was she kidding? What was that Sherlock Holmes quote that Shinichi loved to say? She could imagine him standing with his hands in his pockets, smirking at her with his arrogant grin, and saying, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!"

And sadly, it was all too probable that she was simply a moron.

All the evidence and a lifetime of experience in the real world said that she was wrong. Turning into a child was impossible, wasn't it? Continuing to even seriously consider the idea showed how mentally unstable she was. The simplest explanation tends to be the best one, and the simplest explanation was that she had an overactive imagination.

By refusing to accept common sense, she was trading Occam's Razor in for Occam's Kaleidoscope! She was pushing logic and reason out the door just so she could accept the most fantastic, convoluted explanation. Shinichi would probably be disappointed in her for fighting the evidence so strongly.

Ran _knew_ all this. She knew all the explanations and the arguments, but despite that, she couldn't help feeling that something didn't fit. Maybe it was stupid of her to put so much stock in such a subjective, irrational process, but Ran believed very strongly in the power of instincts. Her lifetime of training in karate has taught her that instincts existed for a reason. Even Shinichi, master of logic and rationality, had once confided to her that there were many times that he would keep investigating what seemed to be open-and-shut cases based on nothing more than a hunch that there was something that everyone was missing.

But feelings and hunches didn't get criminals arrested or convicted at trial. Hard evidence did.

Ran's eyes suddenly widened in realization. She lifted her head so quickly that she almost knocked her tea over. Why had this never occurred to her? She had been going about this all wrong this entire time!

With this new insight, her mind raced down a well-treaded path of old memories and noting where she had gone wrong.

The first time she had suspected Conan of being Shinichi was during the case in which a father who had lost his son during a surgery attempted to get revenge by going after the son of that surgeon.

She could remember her thoughts at the time.

 _His actions are plain too weird for a plain old elementary school kid…_

 _It's almost as if Shinichi was talking…_

 _That day that Shinichi disappeared… Conan-kun appeared as if they had switched places…_

 _Maybe… maybe this kid is really Shinichi?_

Her suspicions had been sparked when Conan had deduced that her dad's client was a surgeon based on nothing more than the marks on his index fingers, and when she had noticed him directing her dad toward his conclusions with his pointed questions and comments. He was practically pulling strings! She had started watching him closely after that, and it became harder and harder to brush off his similarities to Shinichi as mere coincidence.

" _Did you discover something again, Conan?" Ran asked sweetly when she discovered the little boy poring over the hospital's medical records._

 _Not seeming to suspect anything, Conan launched into an explanation of what he found. His voice had deepened and he was no longer acting like a mere child. He began pacing back and forth and appeared to have forgotten that Ran was still in the room._

 _Ran listened carefully then when he had finished, she knelt down to match his height and said with a smile, "If you can deduce it that far, then that's very good. That's clever… that's clever,_ ** _Shinichi_** _!"_

 _Conan looked embarrassed and tried to laugh off the praise. He replied, "Yeah, well, it's nothing…"_

 _Ran watched Conan's eyes widen in horror when he realized that he had responded to the wrong name._

Even then, Ran couldn't help but doubt herself. The real world wasn't a science fiction movie, after all. She needed more, so she decided to set up a trap.

 _As Ran was cleaning up the office after the case, she idly commented, "Oh yeah. Kishida-sensei, the gym teacher, is getting married."_

" _Really? That gorilla?" Conan asked in a bored tone as he read his book._

 _Ran stared at him. Her mind was frozen with shock._

" _How do you know about my high school teacher?" Ran asked with an edge in her voice._

 _Conan stammered, "Oh, umm, you were saying it all the time! Gorilla this, gorilla that…"_

 _Ran glared down at the boy, her face red with anger. "Don't lie! I thought it was weird. You're Shinichi, aren't you?"_

 _Conan was sweating heavily. "Uh, you see…"_

 _Ran was fed up with the stalling tactics. "Admit it! Shinichi!"_

Then the phone rang, and Shinichi had been on the line. Her certainty shattered, and her suspicions vanished like alcohol around her father.

But wait on that day Conan was insisting to pickup phone so that means he knew I had doubt and that's why he keep pushing to pickup phone.

That should have been the end of it. But then, one day, she took the glasses off a sleeping Conan and had her breath taken away by the sight of a face that she hadn't seen in ten years. She mulled over that until later that evening when she couldn't keep silent any longer.

" _You're Shinichi, aren't you?"_

 _Conan backed away from her in shock. "What are you saying? How can I be Shinichi-niichan?"_

 _Ran was not going to back down this time. "No! There's no mistaking it! That deductive reasoning, the decisive action, and even the poor knowledge of music are exactly the same!"_

" _But look carefully! I'm just a kid!" Conan cried, sounding like he feared for her sanity._

 _This tone naturally infuriated her. She put her hands on her hips and spat, "I bet you just drank some strange medicine Doctor Agasa made! Don't play dumb with me now. There's so much I want to tell you. So much!"_

 _Conan's eyes darted left and right, "Do you have any proof? Don't say weird things without any proof!"_

 _Ran smirked. "Right here. The proof is right here." She snatched the glasses off his face and tossed them behind her. "I've never seen anyone that looks so much alike!"_

" _Like I said…"_

" _You'd better confess, Shinichi!"_

Somehow, Conan managed to convince her that she was talking nonsense. And _that_ was the heart of the problem. If it had been Shinichi in her place (she ignored the paradox of Shinichi trying to prove Conan was himself), he wouldn't give up just because of a few roadblocks. In fact, he'd have solid evidence backing his every deduction to confidently wave away any objections. He wouldn't hesitate simply because what he was proposing seemed bizarre.

Confronting a genius without anything better than circumstantial proof was pure folly. Wasn't one definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Instead of trying to badger the truth out of Conan like an officer interrogating a suspect, she should have been trying to do this like a _detective_.

She had been going straight to the accusation and skipping the denouement and the presenting of evidence. What incentive was there for a confession? Clearly their status as childhood friends wasn't enough to get Conan to spill the beans, so it was time to try something different.

Ran told herself that she had to be careful not to go overboard. She had to be objective about this. She would investigate and find out the truth whatever that may be. It could very well turn out that Conan was just what he appeared to be, a sweet, brave, precocious and utterly reckless child.

She had no idea whether or not she wanted that to be true.

Ran yawned widely."Are you okay, Ran-neechan?"

Ran looked down at Conan who was staring up at her with his bright blue eyes, a concerned expression on his cute, little face. Looking at him, no one could ever think of him as anything other than a 7-year old boy.

"I couldn't fall asleep last night, so I'm just a little tired," Ran replied. She smiled at Conan. "I'm going to make pancakes for breakfast today. Would you like that?"

"Pancakes? Yay!" Conan cheered as he dashed into the kitchen.

In the light of day, her nightly musings suddenly seemed foolish. Shinichi would have to be the greatest actor in the world to spend every waking moment pretending to be an ordinary elementary school student. Would a grown man and overly prideful person like Shinichi really tolerate the indignity of being treated like an ignorant kid and a nuisance by people like her father? Of being babied and fussed over by her? He couldn't even reach the top of a counter at his size!

This agonizing was counterproductive. She had already made her decision, and there was no point in second-guessing herself now. Ran pushed her doubts aside and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"Would you like to lick the spoon?" Ran asked after she had finished mixing the batter. She knelt down until the bottom of her apron was touching the ground. It was one of those 'Kiss the Cook' aprons that her dad had brought for her mom as a joke a long time ago.

"Sure!" Conan said happily. He reached out to grab the wooden spoon.

"Here you- Oh no!"

The side of Conan's face and glasses were now smeared with batter.

"I'm so sorry, Conan-kun! Let me clean those for you," Ran said extending her hand.

Conan immediately jumped away from her, but Ran had expected this reaction and the boy was no match for her well-honed reflexes.

Ran quickly went over to the sink and started rinsing the glasses. She turned her head to look at Conan who was staring at her with a worried expression. She smiled reassuringly at him. "Don't worry, Conan. I'll be careful. I know how important these glasses are to you."

Ran put a finger to her chin in thought. "Oh, that reminds me. When was the last time that you went to see an eye doctor? It's important to keep your prescription updated. Maybe I should schedule an appointment for you."

"You don't have to do that, Ran-neechan!" Conan shouted. His eyes flitted left and right as if he was rapidly thinking. He said, "I don't need new ones. My parents got me new glasses right before I came to live with you!"

Ran gave him an inquiring glance then she asked, "Don't you think the frames are too big for your face though?"

"I like them," Conan announced, crossing his arms with a stubborn look on his face.

"If you say so," Ran replied, shrugging.

After turning off the faucet, Ran wiped the glasses on her apron and gave them back to Conan. He took them from her with a relieved expression. She smiled gently at him. "Go wash up real quick and then wake dad for me, okay?"

"Okay!" Conan agreed before he dashed out of the kitchen.

She waited a moment before dropping the smile from her face. She wanted to sag to the floor in weariness, but settled for leaning against the counter. Her heart was beating so loudly that she was amazed that Conan couldn't hear it.

 _Shinichi…_

Ran had deliberately wiped the lenses using the part of her apron that had the word 'Cook' on it. There hadn't been more than a second's worth of time before the glasses made contact with the apron and was covered up from view by cloth, but that had been more than enough time for her to take a glimpse through the lenses and notice that _the letters hadn't changed size._

The lenses were fake. There was no other explanation. Ran wanted to cry. How could she face Conan now? She felt like she had lost something precious. Maybe this was the reason that she had never thought to check the glasses during all the times she accused Conan of being Shinichi.

Now she knew why Conan wore his glasses all the time even when he was sleeping or bathing. She had been expecting to discover something like this, but expecting and seeing were two very different things. Even during the times that she wished that Conan really was Shinichi, there had been a very significant part of her that had hoped that she was wrong. That hope was gone.

No, she was jumping ahead of herself again. Yes, the glasses were fake. She finally had an irrefutable piece of evidence that showed that there was something worth investigating, but it wasn't enough.

If she tried confronting Conan now as she usually did when she thought she had found a 'smoking gun,' she knew that Conan would simply contrive some ridiculous explanation that she'd be forced to accept because it'd still be more probable than a grown man shrinking into a child. Maybe he wore fake glasses simply because he thought they made him look smarter or some other equally absurd reason.

Ran didn't think Conan had noticed what she'd done. And even if he had, what could he do that wouldn't further arouse her suspicions? And if she kept investigating it was inevitable that he would eventually uncover what she was doing.

She supposed she could have just checked out his glasses earlier that morning while he was still sleeping, but she had to know if she could look directly into Conan's eyes and lie to him. She knew now that she could do this. Deceit was not something that came naturally to her, but her characteristic straight-forwardness would not help her in this.

Ran knew that she was nowhere near the end of her journey. There were still too many pieces to this puzzle that she didn't have. But one thing had been accomplished. Ran had been wavering, but she was now filled with the resolve to see this through to the end. There would be no turning back now.

But she still felt some hesitation. If she continued, she'd have to ruthlessly dig through Conan's life. This wouldn't be just another episode of Ran yelling at Conan to confess like some crazy woman like all the other times. She risked permanently alienating the boy if he found out what she was doing and it turned out she was wrong. Was the truth really worth that?

Ran stared at her reflection in the toaster. What would Shinichi do? The answer was obvious. The truth was always worth knowing no matter what the cost.

"Miss Mouri? Miss Mouri!"

"Huh? I mean, yes, sensei!" Ran said, sitting up straighter when she realized that her math teacher was giving her a hard stare. She had the sinking feeling that the man had been calling her name for a while now. The other students snickered at her obvious inattention causing Ran to blush a little.

"I know that you students don't consider math to be the most exciting of subjects, but I'd appreciate it if your heads remained in the classroom and out of the clouds!"

Ran was extremely grateful that the lunch bell rang at that moment.

"I'm really sorry, sensei. It won't happen again!" Ran said as she rapidly packed up her books and rushed out of the room. A girl with short, brown hair followed after her.

"Geez Ran! Didn't you feel me poking you in the ribs?" Sonoko complained as the two girls headed outside to find a spot to eat lunch.

"Sorry. Thanks for trying though."

Sonoko looked at her slyly. She said, "I saw you staring at Shinichi's old seat again. Were you thinking about our missing idiot detective again?"

"I just had a lot on my mind," Ran explained. She hoped that Sonoko would drop the matter, but judging by the annoyingly familiar look her face, she knew that was not going to happen.

Sonoko clasped her hands together and fluttered her eyes rapidly. "Oh, Shinichi! I wish you were here to whisk me away from this life of tedium and differential equations!"

Ran didn't give the usual reaction to her best friend's antics. Instead, she sat down on a bench near the school's baseball field and asked, "Do you think it's possible to know someone your entire life yet not really know anything about them at all?"

"Aren't we in a serious mood today," Sonoko replied lightly. She joined Ran on the bench and asked, "What brought this on?"

Ran knew she couldn't tell the other girl what she was investigating, but she had to talk to somebody. So she started talking about the one person who was always on her mind in one form or another.

"Sometimes, I think Shinichi and I are drifting apart. He doesn't call often, and whenever he does, I do most of the talking. He's always so close-lipped about everything, even the things that can't possibly have any relationship to his case. We'll talk about what's going on in my life and current news and sports events, but he never talks about himself. Not what his books he's read or even if he's made any friends. It's like his life stopped after that day we went to Tropical Land."

And now she possibly knew why. Blinking back tears, Ran said, "I think he's keeping a secret from me."

Sonoko looked aghast. "You don't mean…"

"No, nothing like that!" Ran cried. She felt embarrassed thinking of a time she thought Shinichi had disappeared to be with another woman. But he had disappeared so suddenly, and there had never been a case that had stumped him for so long.

"It's just… I hate the idea that he's lying to me. We've always told each other everything. I don't understand why he would hide things from me now."

"Ran…"

Ran fumbled for her handkerchief and dapped at her eyes. "Look at me, getting all sad over that idiot. I don't know why I even bother getting all worked-"

"Maybe he has a good reason?"

"What?" Ran asked, turning to her friend in surprise.

Sonoko squirmed uncomfortably at the attention. She glanced down at her crossed arms and said, "I said, maybe he has a good reason. I know I always rag on Shinichi, but he's a good guy. You better not tell him I said that though! His head's freakishly large as it is."

The short-haired girl reached over and pulled Ran into a hug. She continued, "I really don't think he'd lie to you if he didn't think it was important. You know how guys are. He probably thinks he's protecting you with his caveman act. So please cheer up."

"Thank you, Sonoko," Ran said softly, returning the hug. After a moment, she pulled away and gave the other girl a bright smile. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a bit. I'm fine, really. I just need to think."

It took some convincing, but Ran was soon alone with her thoughts. Sonoko's words had struck a chord in her. Ran had been so busy moping over the possibility of Shinichi lying to her that she hadn't even thought to ask _why_.

Why would the so-called savior of the police force turn against his principles of honesty and integrity and lie to her every single day? It was hard to imagine. What would be the point? What would motivate such a person to lie?

Means, motive, and opportunity. If she wanted to prove that Conan and Shinichi were the same person, then she'd have to find the holes in their stories and hope that would lead her to the most complex yet simplest of questions: How and why?

The first was beyond her grasp at the moment, but the second question was more pertinent to her. Why? Why would Shinichi lie to her like this? During one of the times she had confronted Conan, she told him she suspected that he had drunk one of Professor Agasa's strange medicines and that was why he was a child.

There were numerous problems with that theory, of course. First, Shinichi was not stupid enough to just drink strange chemicals lying around, and she doubted that Agasa was callous enough to trick or cajole him into doing so. Second, if this was just the result of one of the professor's experiments gone wrong, why would Shinichi lie to her? She could understand him doing so if it was just a temporary condition but it had been _months_. There was no justification short of life and death…

Ran paused in thought. She had never considered that maybe Conan's reason for lying to her was because the truth was _dangerous_. So dangerous that Conan went to great lengths to keep her from prying or even suspecting that there was anything wrong at all. If that was the case, then shouldn't she trust that he knew what he was doing and leave well enough alone?

On the other hand, if he didn't want her involved then he had some nerve living with her and her father! And it wasn't like she hadn't faced danger before. In all the murder, kidnapping, and bomb cases she'd been involved with, she was surprised that she hadn't ended up in the morgue yet!

It was probably typical macho crap about wanting to protect her. That would be so like him. But the problem was that didn't mean he was wrong. The thought disquieted her. What could be so dangerous that Shinichi couldn't even confide in his oldest and closest friend?

But she wanted to know. She didn't care how dangerous it was. It was one thing to be totally ignorant of something. In a case like that, she wouldn't even know what she was missing. But to stand on the cusp of understanding like the Greek figure Tantalus thirsting and straining to reach the fruit just barely out of his reach…

It was the worst feeling in the world.

Shinichi had once told her about how Sherlock Holmes pretended to be dead for three years. He hadn't even told his closest friend, Doctor Watson. Ran didn't doubt that one of Holmes's reasons was to protect his partner nor did she doubt that his concern for his friend was anything but sincere. Yet there was one line that Shinichi had quoted to her that had always stuck with her:

 _Several times during the last three years I have taken up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray my secret._

Watson's reaction to these words was not known, but Ran suspected that it didn't differ much from her own. Was this how the good doctor had felt when he discovered that the man he respected most in the world apparently didn't hold him in the same regard? It didn't matter if Shinichi had the best intentions in the world. The fact was that he didn't trust her enough to even keep a secret.

Ran finally let the tears that she'd been holding back fall.

Ran stared at the nameplate that bored the characters for 'Kudo.' How many times had she gone past this house wondering if Shinichi had finally come home? But today she came here not to search for the elusive boy but to find solace for her wounded feelings.

She had spent the rest of her school day in a daze despite Sonoko's entreaties to cheer up. Ran felt bad about that, but she simply didn't have the energy to fake a smile. She had gone on this crusade anxious to learn the truth, but she had not really considered the consequences that could follow. She had worried about hurting her relationship with Conan but she hadn't thought about the harm that she would suffer from her prying.

If Conan really was Shinichi, what then? What came after that? Could she forgive him? Could she really just ignore all the deception and manipulation? But she could not remember a time before Shinichi was in her life. Could she really throw all that away? Ran didn't know the answers to these questions, but she knew that she would eventually have to answer them.

It was said that ignorance was bliss. That kind of statement was usually scoffed at as cowardice. Yet wasn't there a hint of truth in that tired cliché?

Things were never going to be the same.

Ran looked at her watch. She couldn't spend all afternoon moping like this. Conan and her dad would start worrying about her if she was out too long without calling them.

Ran suddenly realized something, and she couldn't but smile. It was odd and very ironic, but she couldn't stop thinking of Shinichi and Conan as different people. Was it just because she didn't have any proof or was it because while she could imagine herself utterly furious at Shinichi she couldn't see herself bearing a grudge against Conan?

She took in a huge breath then slowly released it, clearing her mind. One project at a time, she reminded herself. She had to prove that she was right before worrying about the aftermath. She would handle it when the time came. Emotions had to be put aside when it came to detective work.

Her investigation was actually going nicely. She had found grounds for suspicion and even came up with a possible motive. It was only going to get harder though. Shinichi was often credited with solving impossible crimes, but what she was investigating was supposedly _really_ impossible. How could an amateur like her hope to get anywhere?

The only way to find out was to try. In principle, every criminal investigation had a few basic steps. A detective doesn't have to know from the beginning how a crime was committed. He just has to determine who is the most suspicious, and that is done by breaking down the alibis of those who have them and paying close attention to those who don't.

At first glance, it seemed Shinichi's alibi was rock-solid. Ran smirked. Having hung around Shinichi all these years, she knew a good alibi proved nothing. She'd just have to work harder at gathering evidence.

When gathering evidence, one had to know where to look. Knowing where to look usually began by asking questions of those who were connected to the case in some way.

It was time to start interviewing witnesses.

A short walk later, Ran was pressing the doorbell of the house next door. The door opened to reveal a surprised-looking Agasa.

Ran gave a small bow in greeting. "Good afternoon, Professor. I was in the neighborhood and thought I would stop by. I'm sorry for intruding on you."

"Not at all," Agasa replied, "You're always welcome to stop by, Ran-kun. Please come in."

"Is Ai-chan home?" Ran asked as she followed Agasa toward the living area.

"No, she and the other children went to the park to play softball," Agasa relied before he sat down on a well-worn armchair. He then put a hand to his forehead in realization. "Forgive me, Ran-kun. Where are my manners? Let me get us some tea."

"That's quite alright, Professor," Ran said, holding up a hand to stop the older man from getting up. "I can't stay for very long. I just wanted to thank you for always taking the time to take care of Conan and his friends. I know that they look up to you like a grandfather."

Agasa laughed loudly as he sank back into his chair. He said, "Then it is I who should be thanking you! You and your father did not have to take in one of my distant relatives and care for him all these months. I enjoy spending time with the children and I hated having to impose on you, but my old bones can't keep up with the energy that only the young possess."

Ran cocked her head and her brow furrowed in confusion. "But aren't you taking care of Ai-chan?"

Agasa's eyebrows rose as a look of surprise flashed across his face. He rubbed the back of his head in apparent discomfort. "Well, you must have noticed that Ai-kun is not like most children. She's quieter and much different from Conan. She's much easier to take care of."

"She is very mature for her age," Ran agreed. She gave him a teasing smile. "But I have to say that it looks like that she's the one taking care of you."

Agasa grinned widely. "And I'm very grateful for her help. My stomach may not agree with me though." He patted his rotund belly in emphasis.

Ran gave a small giggle at the reference to the professor's forced diet. She then said, "That wasn't the only reason I've came over though. I wanted to know if you had heard from Shinichi lately."

"I can't say that I have," Agasa said, scratching his head in thought. "Didn't he give you his cell phone number? Are you having trouble reaching him?"

"No, nothing like that," Ran replied. "So you're sure you haven't spoken to him recently?"

"I'm sure. What's this about, Ran-kun?"

Though Ran was smiling, she was squirming on the inside. This was going to be the tricky part. She said, "I know that you've been taking care of Shinichi's mail while he's been gone. That was how he received the sweater that I made for him, right? I was thinking that it was unfair of him to push his affairs on you when you're so busy with your inventions. So I asked him if I could take over forwarding his mail to him and he said okay."

"He said that?" Agasa asked slowly, looking at Ran with an unreadable expression.

"Yes, he did," Ran replied easily. "I just need the address that you've been sending his stuff to so that I can get started."

The professor looked flustered. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, Ran-kun, but it'd be better to leave things as they are. I already have a system set up for organizing and sending, and it just makes more sense for me to take care of the mail because his mailbox is right next to mine. There's no need for you to go to so much trouble."

"I understand that this is sudden, but I really want to do this." Ran looked down at her folded hands. "I think that I would feel closer to him if I did this. I know it's silly…"

Agasa looked very uncomfortable. Ran could tell that the older man was wavering, but then a look of firm resolve came over his face. He replied, "I really should talk to Shinichi about this first."

"Why? I didn't think this would be such a big deal. It's not like you'd be telling me where he is. He's so secretive these days that he probably has a post office box or something." Ran's eyes narrowed. "Or could it be that you don't have an address that you can give me? Because you haven't been forwarding anything at all?"

By the look in the professor's eyes, she knew that she was correct. Ran wanted to feel triumphant, but all she felt was sadness. Another person was lying to her. She had hoped that Agasa was not part of this as he was like a grandfather to her, but it only made sense that he would be. If Shinichi really had turned into a child, who would he turn to if not his friend the scientist and inventor? But it still hurt.

"You're right," Agasa admitted. Ran stared at him with hope and amazement until he continued, "I haven't been sending any mail to Shinichi. I've just been telling him over the phone if he received anything important. I'm sure you must have misunderstood what he told you. Just let me call him and ask-"

"You just said that you had a system!"

Agasa looked away from her. "It was horrible of me to lie, I know. I didn't want to disappoint you. I know how excited you were when you gave me that sweater to send to Shinichi. He and I thought it would be better to pretend that he had received-"

Ran was usually an even-tempered girl, but this was too much for her. "Stop it! I don't want to hear it. Please… just stop."

Ran clenched her fists tightly and tried not to cry. She should have known better. There was no way it would have been this easy. He wasn't just going to break down and confess. She thought of demanding to see this mail that he supposedly still possessed, but the professor was no dummy. It was pointless to continue the subterfuge.

Agasa didn't look any better than she probably did. He looked worn-out and miserable. Ran felt sorry for him, but she couldn't allow that to dissuade her. Unfortunately, she had no idea what to do for her next move.

"Shinichi didn't call you, did he?"

Ran looked up and saw the older man staring at her with a gentle look in his eyes. She glanced down at the table, feeling too guilty to look at him. "I'm sorry for trying to trick you, professor, but I couldn't think of any other way to find out what I needed to know."

She heard Agasa sigh and then there was a long silence. Before the silence became too uncomfortable, the older man got to his feet and went into the kitchen. Minutes later, he returned carrying a tray that had two steaming cups and a teapot on top of it.

Ran quietly picked up her teacup though she did not drink from it but merely allowed it to sit on her lap. She stared down into the murky liquid as if hoping that inspiration would strike her.

Agasa regarded her for a moment then he said, "I think we should stop dancing around the elephant in the room. I think we both know why you're here."

The implied invitation to spill was obvious. Ran squirmed in her seat out of embarrassment. It was one thing to entertain crazy notions but to actually say it _out loud_ …

She covered her eyes and blurted, "I think Conan is really Shinichi." She then peeked between her fingers for the professor's reaction.

Agasa simply looked at her with a solemn expression. "Conan has told me of the times that you've accused him of being Shinichi. I've known you for many years, Ran-kun, and you're not one to have wild flights of fancy. You obviously feel that you have good reasons for what you believe. I won't insult you by trying to discourage you."

Agasa picked up his teacup and took a sip from it, obviously trying to gather his thoughts. He said, "Let's say for the sake of argument that your theory was correct. Then you understand that he would have reasons for why he couldn't tell you. If the boy cares about you as much as I think he does, then he would not do such a thing lightly."

Ran could feel tears form behind her eyes, and she blinked them back. She had always known that Shinichi cared, but to hear someone else acknowledge that made it more real somehow.

She composed herself and replied, "I understand his reasons. He may even be right. But it is my life and it is my choice if I wish to find out what is going on. I do not want to wake up one day to discover that Shinichi is dead and that Conan has disappeared because I allowed myself to stay ignorant."

"Have you ever considered that knowing too much might, heaven forbid, lead to that?" Agasa looked startled at the words that came out of his mouth.

"That is a low blow, professor," Ran said softly. His words stung not only because he had hit upon her greatest fear but because there was an edge of truth in them. If Conan really was Shinichi, then she would want to be involved with whatever he was dealing with. But would she be a help or a hindrance?

She continued, "I would like to think that Shinichi is intelligent enough that he'd manage to survive even if I got in his way because of this."

"Ran-kun, I didn't mean to imply…"

"Yes, you did," Ran interjected. "But I know you didn't mean to hurt me. You haven't said anything that I haven't already thought of. I know that what I'm doing is a huge risk, but I _have_ to do this. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. If this is something that you feel you must do, then I will not stop you. I hope that you are satisfied with whatever answer you find."

"Thank you." Ran replied. Then she smiled wryly. "The organization that's after Shinichi must be something if he's so scared of it."

She had never seen someone turn so pale so quickly. Agasa was actually trembling when he stuttered, "Wh-why do you say that?"

That was an interesting reaction, to say the least. What was so shocking about what she just said? Ran weighed the pros and cons of pretending that she knew more than she did, but she decided that she had enough deception for one day. And bluffing was never her strong point.

"I thought it was obvious," Ran replied. "If Shinichi was lying to protect me, then it's because of something big. Something that I couldn't handle on my own and that he couldn't go to the police about. So this threat can't be just be one person or small group. It'd have to be like the mafia or the yazuka."

Agasa shook his head. "Ran-kun, I know I said that I wouldn't question you, but…"

"I know, I know. It's like a bad movie plot or conspiracy theory." Ran sighed. "But it's the only thing that makes sense."

She noticed that the inventor was once again avoiding her eyes. She pretended not to notice. She got to her feet and smiled kindly at her host. "I really have to get home and start dinner. I'm sorry for making you listen to my crazy ramblings."

Agasa hurriedly stood up and escorted her to the door. "Nonsense. I am always happy to speak with you. And you were certainly not rambling, dear."

Ran put her hand on the doorknob then stopped as a thought occurred to her.

"Can you do one thing for me? Don't tell Shinichi about this." Ran paused. "Or Conan."

She walked briskly out the door without even waiting for an answer. It was unforgivably rude and even childish of her, but she simply couldn't bear the thought that the professor might lie to her again. If he intended to tell Shinichi then it didn't matter what he said to her.

Ran bit her lip. The worst part of this whole thing was that this probably wasn't going to be the first time her trust in her friends was shaken. How many people knew? Was she the only one who didn't? Was she that untrustworthy of knowing Shinichi's secret?

 _If the boy cares about you as much as I think he does, then he would not do such a thing lightly._

"I'm sure you care, Shinichi, but you sure have a funny way of showing it," Ran said to herself softly as she set off for home.

If there was one thing she'd learned today, it was that she still had a long way to go in becoming a detective. What had she expected to get out of professor Agasa anyway? She supposed she had hoped that it would turn out that the old scientist knew nothing about Shinichi's transformation, and he would be willing to become her ally.

Ran knew her limitations. She had no formal training in observation and deduction, and she was certainly not intelligent enough to beat Shinichi at his own game. She needed help, and she had naively hoped that Agasa would provide that assistance, but she supposed that she was on her own.

Or was she? Wasn't there still someone she could turn to? Ran pondered that thought and smiled. It had been awhile since she had gone shopping after all.

Ran noticed that Conan had been watching her more carefully over the past few days. It was nothing overly overt, but he had been spending more time in her presence lately. And it may have been her imagination, but the boy seemed to be acting even more childish than usual ever since she had gone to visit professor Agasa.

That could mean that the professor had ultimately decided to give her away, but she hoped that wasn't the case. It was just as likely that Conan had simply noticed her acting strangely. His eye for catching out-of-place details was not something she took lightly. Either way, Ran had to now proceed on the assumption that Conan knew what she was doing.

This actually made matters considerably easier for her. She had hesitated on moving forward in her investigation out of fear of arousing Conan's suspicion, but now she didn't have to care! It was not actually that simple, of course. If Conan really was Shinichi, she may have just started a war that she could not possibly win. Waiting for the other shoe to drop was not going to help her stress levels.

Ran sighed. Nothing was ever easy.

"What's wrong, Ran-Chan?"

Ran looked up to see the brunette she'd been waiting on the train platform for. "Kazuha-chan!"

The two girls hugged. Because of the distance between Osaka and Tokyo it wasn't very often that Ran could see her friend, but they tried to meet up at least once a month.

"Oi! Don't forget about me!"

"Ahou! Can't you see you're ruining a moment?" Kazuha snapped at her baseball cap-wearing companion.

"Hattori-kun, it's good to see you again," Ran said warmly.

Heiji grinned and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. "Same here, nee-chan. It's been awhile, hasn't it? Since we've seen you and the runt." He looked around. "Speaking of which, where's Kudo-kun anyway?"

Ran stiffened.

Kazuha looked around. "Yeah, I was surprised to not see him."

Why had she never noticed before? Ran forced herself to relax and replied, "Oh, there's a new Kamen Rider play out at the park that Conan and his friends have gone to watch."

Heiji snickered. "I bet Kudo-kun's going to _love_ that!"

There it was again. Ran casually asked, "Why do you call Conan Kudo-kun anyway?"

Kazuha stared at her childhood friend quizzically. "I've always wondered about that too."

"Wh-what's the big deal? It doesn't take a detective to figure out that those two are eerily similar!" Heiji laughed nervously.

Ran smiled a bit sadly. "No, I suppose it doesn't."

"Did you just call Ran-chan stupid?" Kazuha demanded.

"What the hell? How did you get _that_ out of what I said?" Heiji shouted.

Ran just allowed the sound of her friends bickering wash over her as she thought. Heiji was right. He may have met Shinichi only a few times and for only a few minutes most of those times, but that was enough to have a basis for a comparison to Conan.

But why had she never wondered before? It wasn't the first or even the tenth time she'd heard Heiji's 'nickname' for Conan, but she had never even given it a second thought. Shinichi had once told her that most people never really paid attention to their surroundings, and that there was a difference between sensing something and consciously being aware of it.

But so what? It would be quite a leap to conclude that because Heiji called Conan by Shinichi's last name that he must be involved with the big secret. Her instincts, however, told her that the Osakan detective knew more than he was letting on. But reason told her that it was only natural to see a resemblance between a child detective and his teenage counterpart.

Yet was it more than simply spotting a resemblance? Her breath caught as dozens of disjointed conversations and images flashed through her head. Heiji was always taking Conan along on investigations and discussing matters like equals with him when they were too involved in gathering evidence to realize they were acting strangely. It was more than simply a master talking to his apprentice. Hypercompetitive Heiji seemingly had no problems deferring to the deductions of a child.

That was not all. Heiji was always worrying about Conan and jumping in with bizarre excuses to explain Conan's reckless behavior. Heiji had pretended to be Shinichi on at least two separate occasions…

"Nee-chan? Are you okay? Hello?"

Every bit on its own didn't mean anything but when combined together...

Ran felt like she had gone ten rounds with a karate opponent. Was this how Shinichi felt when a piece of the puzzle snapped into place? It was quite a rush. She was beginning to see why Shinichi loved solving mysteries so much.

She had everything she needed to complete the picture but had never taken the time to arrange the pieces together. Maybe if she hadn't spent the last few days lost in paranoid musings she still wouldn't have connected the dots. But now that she had it was so blindingly obvious!

"Ran-chan!"

Ran shook her head as if she was coming out of a daze and saw that her friends were looking at her with concerned expressions. She smiled weakly then replied, "Oh, sorry. I haven't been getting much sleep lately. Let's get some coffee and I'll be fine."

Was it her imagination or was Heiji staring at her with a knowing expression on his face?

"Don't worry me like that!" Kazuha scolded as she grabbed Ran's hand and started dragging her toward a nearby Starbucks. As Ran struggled not to trip as she was dragged along in Kazuha's wake, she turned her head and saw that Heiji hadn't moved from where he had been standing. He was apparently lost in thought.

What was he thinking about?

Ran mostly sat back, latte in hand, while her two friends argued with each other. If they would have looked over, they would have seen the despondent look on her face. She had been so excited about her discovery of Heiji's deception until she realized that she had the same problem with Heiji that she had with Conan. She had no proof! She was back right where she started!

She sank down in her seat and sighed. Actually, she might be even worse off. She now faced the prospective of having the two smartest detectives she knew teaming up against her. It was very likely that Heiji had already reasoned out the real reason for her spacing out.

Or was she just being paranoid? Better yet, maybe she was just utterly insane and the men in white coats were going to come drag her away any day now as she ranted about men turning into children and the giant _conspiracy_ that was preventing her from learning the _truth_ …

"Ran-chan, you're looking pale," Kazuha said worriedly as she put her hand to Ran's forehead. "It's doesn't feel like you're running a fever, but maybe you should go home. We can do this again tomorrow. We're staying the weekend anyway."

Ran felt tempted to take up that offer, but then she glanced over at Heiji, who was sitting across the table with an unreadable expression on his face. A spark of anger ignited inside Ran. She was tired of running into roadblocks everywhere she turned.

Getting to her feet, she raised her voice and said, "Do you want to know why I'm so tired? It's because I think Shinichi and Conan are…"

"Nee-chan, wait!" Heiji shouted as he desperately stretched across the table to try to cover her mouth. Ran easily knocked his arm out of the way and concluded, "…mystery-loving geeks who aren't considerate enough to let a girl get a good night's rest!"

The expression on Heiji's face was priceless.

Ran then thought about what she just said. She began to blush when she noticed the other customers staring at her.

"Heiji! What are you doing?" Kazuha cried as she frantically started trying to clean up the mess from the drinks Heiji had knocked over in his haste.

"I think Hattori-kun was afraid I'd faint if I got to my feet too quickly," Ran said calmly, pushing her embarrassment aside. "Isn't that right?"

"Y-yeah, I guess I over-reacted," Heiji said. He gave Ran a sharp glance then he continued, "I'm going to take Ran-chan home. Kazuha, I'm going to need you to get us some hotel rooms."

"What? Ran-chan said it was okay for us to stay with them!"

"Ahou! If nee-chan's really sick then you might catch it too! Your coach would kill you if you couldn't enter the aikido tournament next weekend!"

"Heiji…" Kazuha looked like she couldn't decide whether to shout back or smile at the boy. She finally settled on a cross look and replied, "Okay, fine! You be a good mother hen and take Ran-chan home. Ran-chan, I'll call you later to see if you're feeling better!"

Ran waved back as Heiji grabbed her by the elbow and escorted her from the coffee shop.

They continued walking until they were out of Kazuha's sight, then Heiji pulled Ran into a nearby alley. He took a quick scan of the area then he leaned in toward Ran and in an angry whisper, he asked, "What were you doing back there?"

Ran gave him a wide-eyed look of mock innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about. Why did you try to stop me back there?"

"It's like you said. I was worried about you fainting," Heiji replied evenly.

Ran scowled at him. "You're lying."

Heiji smiled cheekily at her. "Can you prove it?"

Ran felt an urge to knock the Osakan boy upside the head. It was no wonder that he and Shinichi got along so well. They were both completely insufferable!

She took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Okay, fine. It's rather obvious that you're not going to help me… directly."

Heiji cocked his head. "Huh?"

"You're supposedly the Great Detective of the West. Well, prove it." Ran leaned her face in until her nose was practically touching Heiji's. "Convince me that Shinichi Kudo and Conan Edogawa are not the same person."

Heiji stumbled a few steps backwards. "Nani? What are you talking about? Maybe you are sick after all…"

"Just humor me," Ran snapped as the last strands of her patience broke. "Because I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong. Do you think I like feeling this way? Not knowing who to trust, feeling betrayed by Shinichi, wondering if Conan is really what he appears to be? So call me a silly girl but take me seriously, damn it!"

Maybe it was the rare display of profanity from the normally unruffled Ran or the note of pleading in her voice, but Heiji sighed and sagged against the brick wall behind him with an air of resignation.

He grabbed the brim of his cap and turned it so that it faced forward, a clear sign that he was thinking deeply. He asked, "I've heard from Kazuha that Kudo-kun calls you a few times every month. How do you explain that?"

"Kaitou Kid imitates voices all the time! Just because somebody sounds like Shinichi doesn't prove anything."

"So the Kudo you've been talking to until now is an imposter? Or are you suggesting that a little boy has the ability to sound like a seventeen year old teenager?"

Ran wished she had a response to that. Either possibility sounded absurd. And she didn't like the implications that came from the idea that she'd been talking to a total stranger for the last few months. Maybe she would be fooled at first by an actor, but too much time had passed by. Was it really possible that the person on the other end of the phone line who she'd been laughing and arguing with for so long could be anyone other than Shinichi?

No, it was not.

"I don't know how he's doing it, but the person who has been calling me is a child Shinichi," Ran said firmly.

Heiji gave her a pitying look. "And the fact that they've both been _in the_ _same room at the same time_? Or is this where the imposter comes into the picture?"

"You tell me. How many times have you disguised yourself as Shinichi?" Ran shot back. Heiji had the decency to look away with a chagrined look.

Unfortunately, she had no other answer to give him. There was a surprising number of people who resembled Shinichi. Maybe he had hired an actor for some of their meetings, but it didn't feel right that every time she had seen Shinichi since their Tropical Land outing was a deception.

Others might ridicule her and say that her answer stemmed from pride or wishful thinking, but she would vehemently disagree. Her thinking was based on observation. There were times when she thought she was talking to Shinichi that she had the weird feeling that she really wasn't.

Yeah, that sounded crazy.

The first time she saw Shinichi after he disappeared was when she first met Heiji. The Osakan detective had just revealed who he believed to be the culprit in a murder case when Shinichi had stumbled in and told Heiji why he was wrong. The whole time Shinichi looked like he had a fever. When Ran tried to confront him after the case was over, Shinichi had clutched his chest like he was having a heart attack, ran out the door, and vanished. She ran after him only to discover Conan hiding in the bathroom wearing overly large clothing that looked like the attire Shinichi had been wearing.

Was that Shinichi an imposter? There was no way to tell with such a brief visit.

Then came the longest period of time that she got to spend with Shinichi in the past few months. It was around the time of the school play. There was no way there was an imposter involved then, was there? But Conan had been around too! Though he had been wearing a mask because of his cold and she had gotten a strange vibe off him…

Again, she was heading into crazy territory, but she was going to take this train of thought to its logical conclusion no matter how absurd it seemed. She had enjoyed spending time with Shinichi and hadn't wanted to ruin their reunion by questioning him too much. She had even gotten her hopes up that he might have returned home permanently until he had ditched her at that fancy restaurant. Not only did she have to eat without him and pay the bill but the jerk had sent Conan to break the news to her!

No, wait. Put the anger aside and think about that for a moment.

"Maybe he has a way to temporarily change himself back?" Ran asked doubtfully.

"Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?" Heiji retorted, sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Not any more so than anything else I'm saying!" Ran shouted. "I don't need you to tell me how insane this is! And can you really rule out what I'm saying? If I don't know how his transformation happened in the first place then I can't confidently say that he doesn't have a way to change back for a short period at least. It explains why he's always running away from me for no reason."

"Conan has parents! Are they actors too? How did he get enrolled in his school without records? If there are records, were they falsified? Are Kudo-kun's parents in on this deception as well? How far are you going to take this?"

"As far as I need to," Ran replied.

"And where is that?" Heiji cried out in obvious frustration. "Until it's proven to your satisfaction that Kudo-kun and Conan are not the same person? Is that even possible?"

"I don't know!" Ran shouted back at him. "I've never conducted an investigation of something that sounds like it came out of a manga!"

 _I don't even know where to start looking_ , Ran thought morosely. Then her eyes widened. _Or maybe I do..._

She studied Heiji's face. Was he actually trying to help her? Or had he simply gotten caught up in the heat of argument and inadvertently said too much? She would have to proceed on the assumption that it was the latter.

"You're right," Ran said, her shoulders slumping. "I'm acting like a crazy person. Ignoring all the logical flaws in my argument are not what good detectives do. There are just too many questions that don't have answers that it would be foolish of me to continue. Thank you, Hattori-kun, for pointing out where I have been blind."

Maybe it was her imagination but she thought she saw a flash of guilt pass over Heiji's face.

"I think that I need to clear my head," Ran continued. "Please forget that I talked to you about this. It's too embarrassing."

"Nee-chan..."

Ran felt her own pang of guilt as she walked away from Heiji with her head hung low. She didn't like lies, but she'd been doing more and more of it lately. She wasn't even doing it to protect others like Shinichi was but only to protect herself and her secrets. Well, she never claimed to be morally superior to anyone. She just wanted the truth.

But maybe she shouldn't be so hard on Shinichi when all of this was over. Again, that was a subject best left for another time.

Heiji probably hadn't been fooled by her last minute surrender, but he couldn't be sure that she was indeed lying. Without any proof that she was, he would be reluctant to telling Conan anything more than that she had questioned him then had apparently given up. He might even hesitate on telling Conan anything out of concern that doing so could lead to reawakening her suspicions.

Ran pulled out her phone and pushed speed dial 2. She waited through the ringing until there was a click. "Mom? I'm coming over to see you. I have a favor to ask..."

"This is highly irregular, Ran."

"I know, Mom. Are you saying that you can't do it then?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm just a little surprised. This sounds like something that would be better done by someone in your father's line of work."

Ran glanced around her mother's law office with its shelves of legal tomes and the desk piled with client files and she had to concede that her mother had a point. Maybe it would make more sense to get a private investigator, but the last detective she'd tried turned out to be on Shinichi's side! Stupid Heiji. No, she needed to talk to someone she could trust.

She was quite certain that her mother didn't know anything about what was going on. There was no reason for her to know. Conan and her mother rarely had any interaction, and he always seemed to be rather intimidated by her. Much like Shinichi was...

She would hate to think that Shinichi would go so far as to force her own parents to lie to her. He wasn't that type of person. So she probably would have been safe talking to her father about this, but despite her increasing respect for his detective skills she knew that he was an awful liar. Asking him to act normally around Conan while investigating him would have been unwise.

"I've always respected your intelligence, mom. I don't think this should be any problem for you."

"Such the flatterer. But I really am surprised at you. All of a sudden asking me to investigate Conan's background." Eri pushed up her glasses with her index finger and leaned forward in her seat. "So I suppose that brings me to my next question. Why?"

Ran hesitated for several reasons. First, it wasn't her place to be spilling other people's secrets. Second, her mother was a no-nonsense woman who would never believe her. And third, if Shinichi ever got hold of this she didn't want him accusing her of recklessly telling everyone she knew that she thought he had been transformed into a child.

So she answered her mother's question with one of her own. "Don't you think there's something strange about Conan?"

Eri laughed.

Ran sat back, startled, as her mother placed a hand over her mouth as she fought to suppress her mirth.

"Ran, dear, how could I not? The boy knows how to fly a plane! Your father tells me that he watched him crash-land a helicopter. And we're not even getting into Conan's almost unbelievable genius..."

Eri crossed her arms in thought. "No, there is definitely mysterious about that child. But that doesn't explain to me why you want me to look into his records."

Ran shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She had expected this question and had spent the entire bus ride over planning her response. She didn't want to lie to her mother, so she would tell her the truth. Just not the whole of it.

"Do you remember when I told you about Conan's mother visiting us a few months ago? She thanked us for taking care of her son and gave us money so that we could continue to take care of him and pay for his expenses. And... I haven't heard from Mrs. Edogawa since. Not from her or her husband. There hasn't been one phone call or letter! Conan hasn't ever shown any indication that this bothers him."

"And what do you think this means?" Eri asked, her voice shifting over into her lawyerly interrogation mode.

"I think Conan's parents aren't who they say they are," Ran replied honestly. "I think that they're involved in something. That must be the reason that they left Conan at our home. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it's my responsibility to find out what's going on."

Eri looked almost amused. She asked, "You think Conan's parents are criminals?"

"I think there is something they are hiding," Ran answered carefully.

"Hmm, I think the person hiding something is you, Ran," Eri said with a smile. "But I won't pry. After all, all you're really asking me to do is search some public records databases. I assume you want me to attend to this personally?"

"I would prefer that. I'm sorry to ask you to give up your time like this, mom. If there's anything I can do for you-"

"Nonsense. Anything for my only daughter," Eri replied, waving off Ran's offer. "Now, you do understand that I won't be able to access anything not in the public records such as bank statements without a subpoena. And I can't issue those unless you're thinking of issuing a lawsuit against the Edogawas."

"Of course not!"

Eri chuckled then she said, "I didn't think so. Don't worry, dear, I'll take care of it."

"Thanks, mom."

Ran stood up and had turned to leave when her mother called, "Ran?"

"Yes?"

"I'm really proud of you."

Ran was confused. "For what?"

"I know that something has been bothering you for a while. You always seem so preoccupied whenever we get together lately. And not just with your silly matchmaking schemes either! When you came in today, you seemed different. Like you had gotten over a wall or a block. The thing that has been weighing on your mind has been building up for a long time, and I'm glad that you're finally taking steps to deal with it."

Ran felt her eyes tear at the warmth in the older woman's voice. She hadn't realized until then how much she needed someone to support what she was doing. She hadn't realized how worn down she had gotten from everyone treating her like she was insane. Things were only going to get tougher, but it was always nice to know that her mother was on her side.

Ran had intended to head straight home and plan her next move, but through some strange impulse she ended up at the park near her home. There was no reason for her to be there as Conan and his friends had turned down her suggestion that she pick them up from their outing, but she felt the urge to see the little boy who was at the center of everything.

The Kamen Yaiba event was apparently winding down, but Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko were still shouting and pumping their fists into the air with great enthusiasm. Conan and Ai, however, looked bored to tears. They tried to hide it and would weakly smile whenever one of the other Detective Boys turned their way, but it was obvious that they wished they were elsewhere.

Ran realized that she had never paid very much attention to the children's interactions before. Oh, she knew that Ayumi liked Conan and that Ai Haibara acted more like an older sister to the others than a peer, but that was only because Ayumi had told her such things. But she didn't know what subjects the kids liked to discuss or why they were always getting pulled head-first into real-life mysteries. She often carted them around but rarely paid attention to what they were doing.

It was certainly strange how a group of elementary school kids had suddenly burst into the scene solving mysteries left and right, or how Conan would sometimes get his picture in the papers for fouling Kaitou Kid's latest heist or simply as the spokesperson for the Detective Boys' victories. Conan being Shinichi would certainly explain all these things. Now that she thought about it, hadn't Sleeping Kogoro's first appearance coincided around when Conan started staying with them? Not that there could be any connection between those events...

Ran lost that train of thought when she felt a tug on her sleeve. She looked down to see Ayumi smiling up at her. A quick glance revealed that the girl had wandered over by herself and that the others were still watching the stage.

Ran knelt down and asked, "Are you having fun, Ayumi-chan?"

"A bunch!" Ayumi replied cheerfully. Then she lowered her voice and asked, "Ran-san, can we talk privately? About Conan?"

This explained why Ayumi hadn't immediately pointed Ran out to the others. Ran took the little girl's hand and the two started walking to an emptier part of the park. She listened as Ayumi told her about her frustrations in getting Conan's attention. Such talks had become common between them since the time Ayumi had explained that Conan had a crush on Ran and that she wanted Ran to let the boy down gently. Ran had laughed off the idea that Conan would have a crush on her, but now she had to wonder if she should have so dismissive.

Ran wondered how Ayumi would feel if it turned out that Conan wasn't who he said he was. She wondered if the girl would resent her if she discovered that Conan was actually closer to the 'older girl' in terms of mental age than to Ayumi. And if Conan ever turned back into Shinichi, Ayumi wouldn't just lose her first love, she'd lose a good friend as well.

For the first time, Ran saw that she wasn't the only person who would be hurt by the truth. Her eyes burned in sympathy as she imagined Ayumi in tears. Maybe it would be better if she was wrong after all. But as Shinichi had so often told her, there was always only one truth.

And truth by its very nature was neither kind nor unkind. It simply was.

"Ayumi-chan?" Ran said, getting the other girl's attention. She asked, "How would you describe Conan? I know that you like him, but how do you and the others see him?"

Ayumi must have heard something in her voice because she turned to Ran with a serious, almost solemn expression. She replied, "He's... different. Genta's always saying that he's the leader but everyone knows that Conan is. He's the one we look to whenever there's a puzzle or when we're in trouble. Conan acts like he knows everything even though he's the same age as us, but sometimes I think he really does know it all!"

Ran's lips curled into a smile at Ayumi's description. She knew that feeling well, the awe and disbelief that someone her age would be so full of encyclopedic knowledge and keen insight. She couldn't count the number of times criminals would break down and confess once they realized that Shinichi was not telling them what he _thought_ but what he _knew._

"I'm a little jealous of Conan sometimes."

"What do you mean?" Ran asked. She mentally scolded herself for getting lost in her thoughts.

Ayumi stared down at the ground, her normally sunny disposition nowhere to be seen. She said, "Sometimes, I think that people forget that Conan isn't the only detective in our group. He forgets it too. He's always trying to leave us behind to investigate things by himself! And he always has the best gadgets! It's not fair!"

Ran was startled. "What do you mean by gadgets?"

Ayumi looked at her with a confused expression. "He hasn't told you? The professor's always giving him cool stuff." The girl's voice grew more animated as she started bragging about her friend's 'toys.'

"Conan has this great rocket skateboard! He can track down bad guys with his glasses and he has these super-strong suspenders that lets him lift very heavy stuff! And he has a soccer ball that comes out of his belt! I've asked Professor Agasa a million times why Genta, Mitsuhiko, and I can't get fun stuff like that too and he says that he doesn't think our parents would like it."

Ayumi paused and gave Ran an uncertain glance. The unstated question of who Conan got permission from to use Agasa's inventions if not Ran rang clearly in the silence.

"Er, Conan must have asked my dad or his parents to talk to professor Agasa." Forcing out a weak chuckle, Ran continued, "Conan probably didn't tell me because he was trying to be like James Bond. Be all secret agent."

Ayumi giggled. She said, "That makes sense."

 _Glad that makes sense to somebody... I can't believe it! What else don't I know about? Am I really so blind? Gadgets..._

"I'm a little jealous of you also" Ayumi said .

"why me" frustately Ran asked.

With blush and anger Ayumi said " because he care for you a lot . He always stare and admire you even though he is way younger than you. He always risk his life just to protect you from any danger and I know he care for us also but the caring look in his eyes for you is different from us. I know he likes you very much that why he does those things "

"what things " ran asked. " he always put his life on line just to protect you. Remember on day when we went to camping you slept in the tent ." Ayumi replied.

"so so what about that".

" you were kidnapped by someone and were left in the car near river to die but he didn't care for his life and tried everything to protect you and that's why he worn out that slept without eating and we were also tired." Ayumi said.

Ran could feel a thought trying to make itself known to her, but she couldn't quite grasp it. It had something to do with Conan's suspicious behavior and the tools he'd apparently been running around with for the last few months. It felt like something obvious, which meant that Ran was going to kick herself when she finally figured out what it was.  
 _  
_"Ayumi-chan?"

"Ai-chan!"  
 _  
_Ran looked up to see that the Haibara girl was indeed walking over toward them. Ai gave Ran an odd, almost contemplative look before turning to Ayumi and saying, "The show's over. The guys went to get food, and they asked me to go see if you were in the restroom."  
 _  
_Ayumi clasped her hands to her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry! I hadn't realized that I'd been gone so long! Thanks for talking to me, Ran-san!"

She immediately rushed off but hadn't taken more than a dozen steps before she noticed that that she was running by herself. "Ai-chan?"

Ai nodded absently at her. "I'll be along in a few minutes. There's something I have to discuss with Ran-san."

Ran stared warily at the little brunette as Ayumi's footsteps receded from them. She liked Ai a lot, but she never knew quite how to act around her. And even though Ai no longer treated her with the disdain that she used to, Ran didn't know what to make of the girl actually wanting to have a private conversation with her.

"I couldn't help but overhear you two talking about Conan-kun," Ai began.

"You know that Ayumi-chan often talks to me about him," Ran replied, a little confused at where Ai was going with this.

"True," Ai acknowledged. "But it seems that she's not the only one who has been questioned by you about Conan-kun lately."

Ran froze. She cautiously asked, "What do you mean?"

"Professor Agasa finds it difficult to keep secrets from me. And it seems that he wanted some advice about a problem he was wrestling with."

"What did he tell you?" Ran asked. She was curious as to why the professor felt comfortable confiding his problems to a young child. But then again, she had learned a long time ago that Ai was no ordinary child.

Ai paused then replied, "Only that you were concerned about Conan-kun's past and that you didn't want him to know that you were asking about him."

That pause told Ran that she wasn't being told quite the entire truth, but she didn't press it. Instead, she asked, "And what did you tell him?"

"I haven't decided. I wanted to talk to you first."

And how was this any of your business, Ran wanted to ask, but there was something about the younger girl's eyes that made her want to listen. She had seen that look in Conan's eyes many times as well. A look that contained a depth of experience that seemed out-of-place on their childish features.

A flash of uncertainty crossed the younger girl's face and her eyes shifted slightly to the side. She said, "I normally stay out of Conan-kun's affairs, but I find myself curious as to what you're trying to accomplish."

Ran spread her hands and shrugged. She replied, "I just want to learn the truth."

"Is it really that important to know?" Ai asked as she took a seat next to Ran under the tree.

"When is it better not to know something?" Ran demanded, more harshly than she intended.

Ai simply stared back with an unfazed expression. She said thoughtfully, "I suppose it depends on the consequences of knowing."

"Not much would get done with that kind of attitude," Ran said with a sigh.

"Perhaps not. Or maybe more problems would be avoided. But couldn't it be considered selfish to want to know when you don't need to? If there's nothing you can do then aren't you just causing trouble for others? If there really is something that Conan-kun is keeping from you, shouldn't you just trust that he will tell you when the time is right? So again, _why_ do you need to know?"

Ran found that she didn't know what to say.

What was her reason for doing all this? Why did she need to know? Was it simply to quiet the constant nagging feeling that there was something wrong with her world? When the question was put that way, her quest did seem quite selfish. The people who she suspected knew the truth, Heiji and the professor, had the abilities and skills to help Shinichi. What use would come out of her knowing Shinichi's secret? In the end, wasn't this all about her and her injured pride?

Ran had maintained the entire time that the truth was worth knowing. But for whose sake?

"I..."

Ai's cell phone rang. She picked it up and exchanged a few words with her caller. Then she hung up and turned to Ran. She said, "I have to go. Look, I don't entirely know what's going on and I'm just giving my opinion. Maybe I'm completely wrong, but I consider Conan-kun a good friend and I don't want to see him get hurt. I respect you also but you should think are your actions appropriate. You should know Conan would never try to hurt you if it not necessary. Fear of losing someone is…."

The girl ran off before Ran could reply. That was probably for the best as Ran still had no idea what she would have said.

Somehow, Ran managed to make it home and collapse on the couch in front of the television in the main office. Her father wasn't home. He was probably playing pachinko somewhere. That meant that she had time to think.

She needed to figure out why Ai's words had shaken her so much. Ran had told professor Agasa that she didn't want to come home one day to discover that Shinichi was dead and that Conan was missing. Wasn't that enough reason to want to know the truth? Was there something wrong with wanting peace of mind?

Her cell phone rang.

Ran flipped it open and said listlessly, "Hello?"

"Why so gloomy? Is that really the way to treat your childhood friend?"

Ran sat up straight at the sound of the familiar voice. "Shinichi?"

"Were you expecting someone else?" Shinichi teased with the cocky cheer she knew so well.

Ran was caught off-guard. It was one thing to suspect that Shinichi was lying to her but another to deal with the suspect himself! Then she smiled. It couldn't be a coincidence that Shinichi was calling out of the blue just when she was getting so close to penetrating his secret. She would just play along for now.

"I don't know who I was expecting," Ran replied. "But certainly not someone who only calls once in a blue moon!"

"Hey! I call more than that," Shinichi said indignantly. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Ran softened a bit at that. "I'm doing fine. Nothing really new has happened in a while..."

The two of them chatted for a while about school, her dad's cases, and random news trivia. She always felt happy whenever Shinichi called but also a little angry because hearing his voice on the phone was a poor substitute for having him around in person. She would always want the conversation to go on longer, but at the same time she'd quickly grown tired of talking about nothing and listening to Shinichi's empty promises that he would come home soon.

As if he had read her mind, Shinichi said, "Ran, have you noticed that you don't ask me any more about when I'm going to come home?"

"I didn't feel like fighting about it any longer," Ran replied, surprised that he would bring such a sore subject up.

"And because you were tired of me constantly letting you down," Shinichi said with a bit of sadness in his voice.

"Shinichi..."

"I want to tell you something, Ran. You've probably suspected for some time now that I've been lying to you. And you're right. But you deserve better than that, so I'm going to confess."

"Really?" Ran asked. She could feel her heart start to race. She had never expected anything like this to happen! Had her investigating pushed Shinichi into finally telling her the truth?

"I've been lying when I say that all the cases I have keep me from coming home. The truth is that there's only one case, and it's the most dangerous one I've ever faced .Rest of details I can tell you when the time is right i.e. when we will meet."

Ran gripped her phone tightly. She asked, "And you're working on it by yourself?" "nope" replied shinichi.

Ran was silent for a long time. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? While it didn't make her happy to learn that Shinichi was in danger, she finally had an explanation for his evasiveness and abrupt disappearances. The idiot hadn't wanted to worry her, so he had just made her think he had abandoned her instead. It all made sense.

Then why did she feel like something was missing?

Finally, Ran asked softly, "Are you telling me everything?"

"What else would there be?" Shinichi asked with obvious puzzlement in his tone.

Ran hesitated then she asked, "What about Conan?"

"What about him?"

Ran didn't know why she was pushing this. Shinichi had given her a perfectly reasonable explanation for his behavior, one that didn't require any conspiracies of silence or magical age-reducing formulas. She didn't think he was lying, at least not about what he told her. Why couldn't she be satisfied with that?

"Are you telling me that Conan has nothing to do with whatever it is you're doing & why he look like you and act like you?"

There was a long silence. Then Shinichi replied, "I don't understand what you're getting at, Ran. Conan's a smart kid, and I've taken an interest in the detective work he has done, but I'm not dragging him around on secret missions if that's what you're asking. I'm sorry to be rude, but I did confess something kind of major here and your reaction is confusing me."

With hesitation Shinichi again said " there is something about Conan I need to tell but before that I need you to promise me you will not tell anyone even Conan"

"promise , for what"

" just promise "

"O K " she replied.

"He is my biological brother. His parents was seriously injured in an accident after few days of marriage . So he was born through IVF process and got traits from my father."

"what" ran asked.

Ran hesitated again then she set her jaw in determination. She had come too far to let something like possible ridicule force her to back down now. She opened her mouth to demand that Shinichi listen to her seriously when-

"Ran-neechan?"

Standing in the doorway, holding a soccer ball by his side, was Conan staring at her through his wide-rimmed glasses.

"Ran, are you still there? Moshi, moshi."

Numb with disbelief, Ran could barely hear Shinichi's voice over the speaker as she watched Conan dribble the ball he had over toward her father's desk. It was definitely Conan. There was no mask or anything covering up his distinctive features. But if Conan was in the room with her, then how was she able to talk to Shini-

Wait, she had seen this trick before.

"Nice try, _Shinichi,_ or whoever you are," Ran said with heavy irritation. "I won't be fooled by the same trick twice. Who is this?"

"What's for dinner?" Conan asked as he climbed onto the chair behind the desk and slowly started spinning it around with his feet.

Ran rolled her eyes at the childish display. "I'm on the phone right now, Conan. I'll tell you in a moment."

"Ran, I don't know what's gotten into you," Shinichi said, sounding very concerned. "But I gather that you think I'm some kind of imposter."

"Bingo! You're a regular Sherlock Holmes," Ran said sarcastically. She didn't remember the last time she had been so angry. She had finally gotten Shinichi to tell her what was going on and it wasn't even him!

Shinichi let out an audible sigh. "And how exactly am I supposed to prove that I'm me? Or are you just going to accuse me for no good reason?"

Ran felt stung by that. Those words uncomfortably reminded her of her past behavior with Conan. Wasn't she the one who promised herself that she would stay open to the possibility that she was wrong? She glanced over at Conan who was now doodling on a notepad as he spun around. She was still convinced that this was a trick of some kind, but didn't she owe the two males the benefit of the doubt?

"How old were you when your parents moved to the United States?"

"Fourteen. Are you convinced yet?"

"Of course not."

She thought furiously. If the person on the other end of the line was an impostor, then Shinichi must have prepped him or her on what she was likely to ask. She had to think more creatively.

"Three years ago, after the case with the black Labrador and when we were still fighting, we heard a woman singing by the river. What was that song?"

Shinichi chuckled. "That's quite a detailed question."

"Are you saying you can't answer it?" Ran challenged.

"Of course I can. It was _Amazing Grace"_

Ran was taken back but she composed herself. She said, "The music hall bombing wasn't that long ago. The real Shinichi could have guessed that I'd think about that and ask."

"If it's so obvious, then why did you ask?" Shinichi asked with some heat.

Ran ignored the question. Instead, she asked, "In first grade, when we sneaked into the school at night to check for ghosts, what happened that night?"

"You're asking me something from first grade? You're serious about this! Fine, I'll play your game. A man calling himself my younger brother challenged me to a treasure hunt. The treasure turned out to be a sunset."

Trying not to show that this correct answer had rattled her, Ran quickly asked, "When we visited New York a few years ago, your mom drove us to see a play. What was it?"

Shinichi chuckled. "Mom definitely broke a few traffic laws that night. If I remember correctly, we saw the Golden Apple musical on Broadway."

Frantically racking her brain, Ran desperately asked, "On our middle school ski trip, who did we run into?"

"My parents," Shinichi replied with a heavy sigh. "I can't believe they were there, but if mom hadn't told us dad's story about Yuki-onna and her silver robe I might not have solved the mystery."

Ran felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. It had to be a trick! But how? Unless she was prepared to believe that Shinichi had found a psychic mind-reader to fill in for him, she had no explanation for how anyone other than the real deal would have such a command of the minutiae of their lives. And Shinichi may have been a genius but even he wouldn't have been so arrogant to take the risk that he could perfectly predict every question that Ran would ask and prepare someone to answer them.

There was nothing to indicate than an impostor was speaking with her. There was not even the hint of old-fashioned language that she detected the first time that she had accused Conan of really being Shinichi. Against her will, Ran began to seriously have real doubts about her theory.

Was it possible that she was entirely mistaken? What was she supposed to do now?

Ran was not consciously aware of how she got off the phone with Shinichi. She had the vague sense that she had mumbled a quick apology and a promise to call back later before hanging up over Shinichi's startled protests.

That was extremely rude. It was probably ruder to throw her cell phone under a seat cushion when it began to ring.

She didn't know what she was doing anymore. Her inner voice sarcastically asked if she had ever known what she was doing. Ran could only gaze at little Conan and wonder how she could have gone so horribly astray from the path of common sense.

No, this couldn't be right. Was she supposed to believe that there were two _separate_ mysteries going on under her nose? One about Shinichi's disappearance and another one involving Conan and his mysterious past? There had to be a connection between Conan's secret and Shinichi's secret!

There had to be a connection, right?

Somehow without realizing it, Ran had crossed the space between the couch and the desk. She watched her hand reach out and grab Conan's face.

"Ow!"

It wasn't a mask.

Almost grimly, Ran reached out with her other hand and tugged at Conan's hair.

Conan batted at her hands and cried, "Ran-neechan! What are you doing?"

Ran watched with an odd sense of detachment as the boy's eyes filled up with tears. There was no wig. There was no mask. This was not an impostor.

That meant she had spent the last few moments tormenting a little boy and the last week invading his privacy for no good reason. Overcome with a sudden wave of horror and grief, Ran backed away with her hands clasped to her mouth.

"Ran..." Conan said with a stricken look on his face.

"I'm sorry!"

Ran ran to the safety of her bedroom away from the suffocating reality of lies, secrets, and confusion. She collapsed on her bed and tried to block out everything. She was dimly aware of her father coming home and pounding on her door yelling about dinner, but it eventually stopped. She assumed that he decided to get takeout instead.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. This was hardly the first time that her belief that Conan was Shinichi had taken a beating. If she could keep going even after seeing the both of them in the same room and against all common sense and reason then why did she feel so much pain this time?

Maybe it was because she was tired of fighting. She had never tried so hard before in her previous attempts to unmask Conan. She had never expended so much effort thinking and making mental connections between oddities that she had never noticed before. This was the farthest she had ever come and in the end, she was once again facing two horrible possibilities. Either she really was losing her mind or Shinichi had gone to ridiculous lengths to deceive her.

Ran was not especially enthused by either option.

She didn't remember falling asleep, but when she next opened her eyes she saw sunlight streaming through her window. Ran stared blankly at the sickeningly cheerful weather outside for a moment before heaving a great sigh and getting out of bed. Now I will see what is common in Conan and Shinichi. Then I may get some clues.

Good Morning Ran-neechan-said Conan-kun . Good morning and sorry for pulling you face last night–said showed no suspicion now that had relieved Conan. But he can see her depressed smile on her face.

The day passed .

Ran was confused in her thoughts why would always she want Conan to be Shinichi. Is she really started attaching Conan or is she really missing that mystery geek so much that she sees him in Conan because his face resembles him so much.

She lifted herself of the coach, stretched with a loud and very unladylike yawn and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Today she didn't have to cook as much as usual, because it was the usual drinking day of her father, where he would stay out till late at night, sometimes even till the next morning.

Ran really liked to cook, it didn't just relax her, but also helped her to think, much like soccer helped Shinichi but with the benefit of producing something tasty. While her hands chopped vegetables, spiced the soup and prepared the meat, her mind started to wander back to the towering problem she faced.

"So, if I don't like children it THAT way, this would mean I only like Conan, but why exactly Conan? It can't just simply be that he resembles Shinichi so much, if that would be the case, why don't I have a crush on either okita- or Hattori-kun? Sure, there are obvious differences between them, but nobody is exactly like another person, not even twins!" As soon as her mind formed this idea, she immediately saw a pair of blue eyes looking at her. She knew these eyes since her childhood.

They belonged to Shinichi, but the face that followed wasn't Shinichi's.

It was Conan's.

"Maybe I only like mystery-loving, soccer-maniacs with parents that are never around" she bitterly laughed out. But her thoughts were interrupted by the chime of her phone and when she looked at it, a reminder plopped up which read like follows, "Conan is coming ".

Confusion rose up inside of her, surely, she must be mistaken. After all it was impossible that Conan and Shinichi had the exact same eyes, only if they were the same person…

Ran dashed to her room, rummaging it mercilessly for the photo album of her childhood, flipping it open and taking out a photo of her 8th birthday, with Shinichi in it too. Then, she grabbed her phone, opened her photo app and search for the one picture she took of Conan while he cleaned his glasses.

There it was.

The accidental shot was so good, that Ran saved it. She felt a small smile form on her face when she looked at the little boy who looked up in innocent surprise at her, no glasses shielding his sky-blue eyes and no secrets clouded his view. He looked like he should look, like a child. A child that hasn't seen his loved ones getting hurt, a child that hasn't seen the black abyss of humanity, just a normal child, untainted by the world's cruelty. Even only looking at the photograph comforted her, gave her the feeling she could fight forever against her own desires if only she would see this picture, but that was no luxury she had right now and so she laid the birthday picture right beside her phone on the table.

Examining them closely, she could clearly tell that there was no difference at all!

Of course, she had discovered this already once, but seeing it again stirred the old suspicions again. And again, her spirit fell, deep into the abyss of lies, suspicion and a hurt pride of being his best friend.

"If it is really Shinichi, why doesn't he tell me anything?" She asked herself again, knowing fully well that she had no answer at the moment and might never have one, because there simply was none.

"How can a teenager, grow back to being a child? I even saw both of them together and still can't accept the truth!"

The shadows which were once forced back now returned with full power, clouding her mind, stealing her vision and obscure her senses.

What if she really was mentally ill?

What if she lost control over herself and assaulted Conan in the end?

What if she hurt the little boy, not just by physically but mentally too?

How could anybody ever forgive her, when even she herself would not?

Her thought kept on spiraling down tormenting her spirit with these questions.

Words like "insane", "madwoman" and "child molester" echoed louder and louder in her mind, suffocating her thoughts, crippling her limbs and blocking her senses. She could feel herself losing balance, could feel her knees slowly giving in, while her mental barricades broke, only leaving behind a pitch-black nothingness.

She needed help.

Fast.

"RAN-NEECHAN, I'M HOME" a voice chimed clear like crystal and bright like the sun, piercing the darkness and destroying the silence. Her sense came back, she felt her hands, her feet and could sense her body swaying dangerously. But before her knees gave in completely, she slammed her hands on the table desperately clutching it for steadiness.

"RAN-NEECHAN? IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT"? the voice asked, hearable distress and worry in it as it's owner climbed up the stairs. But Ran would not allow Conan to see her like that. After all, she still was the older sister and older sisters would never break down in front of their little brothers!

At least she would not!

"EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT, I JUST LET SOMETHING SLIP.", she called back to the door and before it opened to reveal the small boy, she hurried back into the kitchen, thanking the gods that the dinner wasn't ruined by her own weakness.

Something was not quit right and it had definitely something to do with the loud noise Conan had heard when he came home. Ran had assured him that it was only her phone that fell on the table, after it had slipped her grip. This was not only strange because the noise was too loud for the rather light mobile phone, but also because he seriously doubted that Ran would let her phone just slip without a good reason.

But as curious as he was, he knew that there were things people did just, so they could save a little of their pride and dignity and even though Ran wasn't one to do so, he could completely understand if she didn't want a little child to know why exactly she was angry enough to punch the table. In all probability the reason was either he as Shinichi or her father, who had done something they shouldn't or not done something they should have done. Now that he thought about it, the last time he called her was a good 3 weeks ago and he knew that these calls were very important for Ran and he liked them too. Deciding, that he would call her this night, he engaged her in a light conversational about their days in school and told her of the "awesome" things they learned in class. Even though he knew visiting an aquarium was not something any teen would consider anything close to awesome, he still tried to sound as excited as a kid should be. Completely focusing on his act, he stopped to pay much attention to Ran's response and thus missed the small signs of pain.

For her, the evening was not as relaxing as it should have been. Even though she tried as hard as she could, it was just impossible to be as attentive as usual, while her mind was still filled with a chaos of thoughts all important but none of them helpful. Even when they started to watch their series, she had real trouble to just follow the rather shallow plot line of the mystery series and while Conan happily commented on the obvious tricks the culprit had used, she didn't even understand what was happening. Worst of all todays episode seemed to be a special one.

Ok, now it was too much for Conan. Till now he could blame her absentmindedness on stress and worry over Shinichi, but never ever would she forget to hold his eyes closed if something like this happened. As it turned out todays episode was a story-heavy one, which, on top of that, focused on the romance between the two protagonist and now of all times they had to show a make out scene. Normally Ran would not fail to immediately cover Conan's eyes and start to speak very loudly before she could silence the TV with the remote control. But today, today she just sat there, starring at the screen and clearly not picking up anything of what was going on. As embarrassed as he would typically be, as worried was he now.

"It has to be something bigger, something heavier than usual. Did I forget her birthday? No, that is only in a few months. Is Golden week's day or something? No, that wouldn't be a reason for her to be like that. So, what is going on?", he started to contemplate. And while he was emerged in fancy and theories, dismissing them as fast as created new ones, the girl besides him awoke form her trance.

The first thing Ran noticed when she finally managed to leave her thoughts behind, at least for the evening, were the strange groaning and moaning sounds. Confused she stared at the TV screen where she could only see a blanket moving up and down. Not understanding at first, her cheeks immediately flushed red, when her mind had processed what she was seeing. In utter bewilderment, she looked around, spotting the boy next to her who seemed to stare at the screen, his face showing intense concentration. Anybody else would at least now turn off the TV and scold the boy for looking at something like that, however something in her mind clicked and started to ask questions.

"Why is Conan watching this so intensely? Is he interested in that stuff? Does he want to do this with …"

SMACK!

The loud noise made Conan jump, interrupting his brainwork and drawing in his complete attention to its source.

Besides him Ran sat upright, no longer emerged in thoughts and, as he noticed to his distress, with tears in the corner of her eyes. His detective senses immediate told him what had happened, spotted the bruise on her cheek and the red palm of her hand, concluding that she has slapped herself quite strongly, which was the cause of the tears, but this was not what interested him right now.

"R-Ran-neechan?" he asked hesitantly, "Are you alright?"

Worry flooding his sense, he could only look at the girl in front of him, which now looked back, hurt, guilt, fear and pain in her eyes. After a few seconds, she lowered her gaze.

"What have I done?", Ran thought to herself, "This is not something I can tell him, but what should I tell him? What would sound just faintly plausible?" Slowly turning back to the boy, she focused his face and looked deep in his eyes, seeing the confusion, worry and a faint shine of guilt.

"Listen Conan-kun," she started, not blinking, "Sometimes people do bad things and most people know if what they have done is good or bad. When that happens, some people remind themselves of what they have done and what that means. Do you understand?"

Now Conan was completely lost. He had expected a lot of things, but not this!

"What is she trying to tell me? Has she done something bad? And if she has, what is it?

Is she only trying to cover something up? Or is there more to this?" At an utter loss of words, the only thing he could mutter was a faint "Okay" and with that Ran stood up and vanished inside of her room, leaving a puzzled boy alone on the coach.

"What have I done?", Ran asked herself for the thousandth time this night, lying awake in her bed and reliving everything that had happened. She dreaded that moment, she dreaded the whole evening. If she hadn't been that damn weak, nothing would have happened, but now Conan was clearly confused and worried over her. To make matters worse, she didn't just give him a ridiculous explanation, but then just ran away. Without even looking back, without even trying to be the good sister she wanted be for the small boy.

"Why? Why does it have to be that way? Why can't I do ANYTHING right?"

Again, she fell deep in an ocean of negativity, sinking to its ground and slowly drifting away, but once again a loud noise tore the silence apart and brought her back to reality. It was her phone.

Without even looking at the display, she pressed the answer button and mumbled a faint greeting.

"Jesus Ran, what is now wrong with you?", the voice on the other side asked, a soft sight in his words. "Shinichi!?" Ran asked, clearly not expecting her childhood friend to call her this evening.

"Oi, were you crying again?" he inquired, this time with worry heavily tainting his words.

"No, I was not. Why should I?"

"Ran, by now you should know, that you can't lie to me about that. Besides even if I didn't hear it in your voice, the call Conan made was cause enough to assume that."

"Conan called you? Why? What has he told you" Ran demanded, a little panicking.

"What if Shinichi found me out? What if Conan found out? Please, everything but that!" her mind screamed in despair.

"He told me that you seemed to be really depressed and absent minded. Furthermore, he made clear that you started to make no sense, after you slapped yourself?" the last words he spoke in a questioning tone and continued to say, "I always knew that you tended to carry every burden yourself, but to go as far as to hurt yourself because of it, it must be really something bad. And I really don't like to hear that!"

That was too much for her, if he cared why was he gone in the first place. "You didn't LIKE what you heard?!" Ran shoot back, anger and frustration mixing in her voice "Why do you think you understand anything that happened, if you aren't even HERE? Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Ran," Shinichi answered, now completely serious, "I can't leave you alone with this, because I WORRY over you! Do you really think I wouldn't care just because I'm not there right now? Don't think that lowly of me, when you need me I will always be there, even if it is only my voice. And you clearly need SOMEBODY right now, so please, let me be that somebody. Let me help you!"

The earnestness in his voice took her of guard. She often thought that he left her behind, because he found someone better and, as much as it pained her to admit, she truly believed that from time to time, but what he said right now made it impossible to hold on to this thought.

"You can't help me!" she answered half sobbing, "You can't understand my situation."

"Ran, please, let me at least try to understand and if it pains you that much you don't need to tell me everything. Just tell me something."

This really wasn't fair. His voice, the words he chose, everything made her want to tell him, made her want to confess everything, but she knew she couldn't do that. He couldn't understand. This was nothing like anything he has ever encountered. But she couldn't exactly lie to him either, at least not right now.

"Shinichi," Ran started with shaking voice, "have you ever done something, which you knew was and still is awful, and just the fact that you done something like this would make you the worst kind of person?"

Conan blinked surprised. The worst kind of person!? Ran had hinted at something bad in her explanation, but that it was that evil was beyond his wildest guesses. However, he knew he had to take her 100% serious right now. So, he leaned back on his futon, starred at the ceiling and recalled his past.

"Something absolutely evil, hmm? Yes, I do think I've done something like this. I hurt somebody, over and over and even though I didn't want to do it, I had no other choice and worst of all, I can't even tell that person why I've done it.", he finally answered after a minute of silence.

Ran didn't trust her ears, after Shinichi spoke.

"He has done something that bad? I had no idea!" Ran thought to herself. For her, Shinichi was always the smart mystery nerd, sometimes a little bit rude, but he would never hurt a person, no matter what this person has done. For him to tell her something like this, made her realize, that they weren't the children they used to be. Both of them have matured, Ran while playing the big sister or even mother for a small boy and Shinichi while fighting crime face to face, away from home and family. Maybe he really could understand how she felt.

"I really didn't expect, that we were in such similar situations. But how can you cope with that?" she asked, her voice a lot calmer.

"I can't." was Shinichi's simple answer, "Every time I see, hear or even think of that person, it hurts. The guilt is always there and frankly, it is good that it is. Because that way, I'll never forget the deed I own that person. And when I'm finally finished with everything, then I can tell them. Till then, I have to just go on. Set one foot in front of another and keep on walking, not just for myself, but for everybody who waits for me too."

Ran was speechless. She had expected some small sort of advice, some trick from her brilliant friend. For her to hear, that even Shinichi had to just bite through some problems was a giant relief. Because it didn't only mean, that she wasn't the only person with this kind of problems, it also meant that it wasn't impossible to resolve them. Sure, Shinichi didn't have exactly the same problem as she did, but if he was willing to go on, how could she give up?

With new strength in her heart, Ran decided that she just had to continue. Even if she couldn't get rid of her forbidden feelings, as long as she knew what exactly caused them, she could suppress them. So, the next step for her was to either find out if she just saw Shinichi in Conan, and if she did, why she did, or to accept her pedophile nature. And no matter the answer, it would be the end of this matter.

"Thank you, Shinichi.", she spoke softly into her phone, "That really helped."

"I'm glad I could help you, Ran."

The next morning started, as always, with the jarring sound of Ran's alarm clock, only stopping after she dragged herself out of bed, over to her drawer and slammed her fist on the largest button of the hellish machine. Normally it wasn't that hard for her to get up, even in the early morning, however everything that happened yesterday, kept her up till the 3 or 4 am, so she missed out on a lot of sleep. Yet, she had to get up, make breakfast, prepare hers and Conan's lunchboxes and apologize to the little boy. After her talk with Shinichi, she realized exactly how scary and confusing everything must have been for her little brother and swore herself that she would never lose control over herself like this again.

She was in the midst of laying out the dishes, when she heard the door open with a screeching noise. After she turned to look at the door, her eyes saw Conan standing in the doorway, but unlike she had expected, he didn't seem scared. Then again, it wasn't like Conan to be scared by anything and the worried expression he had on his face, even though Ran didn't like to see it, when she was the one to blame for it, it made her feel a little bit better.

"Ran-neechan? Are you better now? Did Shinichi-niichan help you?" the bespectacled boy asked a bit hesitantly. Ran would have loved to pick him up and squeeze him gently, because he was just so irresistibly cute. How could ever resist such an adorable view? But because she knew that he didn't appreciate close contact very much and didn't want to freak him out again, she held the overwhelming urge in check, only smiling brightly at him and wishing him a good morning.

"Don't worry, I'm all better now." She assured him afterwards and finished preparing breakfast, a task which, much to her delight, Conan helped her to fulfill. When they've ate for the morning, Conan and Ran went to school and for some ominous reason it seemed to her, that he was a lot more talkative than usual.

School on the other hand, was like always, same teachers, same sort of exercises and same sort of talk with Sonoko. Ran told her of her nightly chatter with Shinichi, even though she left out the object of their conversation, and Sonoko started to tease Ran like usual. To make it short, it was a perfectly normal day.

Not so normal however, was the afternoon for Ran. It was not that usual for a teen to visit a children theatre and even thought she originally was only there to watch over the Detective Boys, she quickly found herself enjoying the play. Granted, she liked a lot of things, other people would call childish, but that didn't matter to her, as long as she was entertained by it. Today however, her interest was completely captured by Conan or rather by his reactions. Unlike the other children he seemed not the least bit happy, in fact, even high schooler would have a hard time to show that level of boredom over this performance. Of course, Conan was more mature, than all other kids, expect for Ai maybe, but even she seemed to find some sort of enjoyment in the play.

"He really does resemble Shinichi a lot.", Ran thought to herself, "He too had a very peculiar taste for stories and, if you would ask him, he would tell you that this was because he most of the time knew exactly how the story would end."

In that moment, Ran a small idea plopped in her brain. Hastily she pulled her phone out and open a new note on it. She carefully typed in the words, "Bored by normal stories" and saved the document under the name "C-S similarities". Obviously, this meant "Conan-Shinichi similarities" and Ran planned to write down everything that the two of them had in common, in fact she already had a dozen plans on how to draw certain behaviors out.

Her scheme started right after the end of the play, when she asked the group what they thought of it and why?

"I really liked it", Ayumi answered as first, "The princess was really pretty and the knight was a real prince charming."

"I thought the dragon was really cool and the way the knight defeated him" Genta was quick to follow. "Your right, especially the way he evaded the dragon's breath was genius" Mitsuhiko agreed with his corpulent friend. "Yeah it was all like SWOOSH and BANG" Genta started to re-enact the scene and dashed forward, with Ayumi and Mitsuhiko hot on his heels.

"DON'T RUN TO FAR AWAY!" Ran shouted after them, but they had already reached the park, so she doubted that anything would happen, "And what about you two?" she then asked Conan and Ai.

"The story was a classic and even though they changed the script in order to appeal to children, I must admit that it wasn't all that bad." Ai responded with the usual calm and analyzing tone.

"It was utterly boring!" came the grumpy comment from Conan, "The plot was really obvious, the hero completely generic and you could tell how it would end the moment the curtain rose."

Ran could barely contain the soft chuckle and instead just smiled warmly at them, "Exactly like his big idol." She then quickly added the reason of Conan's boredom to her earlier note and tugged the phone away. If things would continue to go that smoothly she would have her answers soon.

The sun shone as mercilessly as ever down on seven people, who had the misfortune to choose today for their hiking tour. One would normally think that you would prefer the gentle rays of sunlight to the heavy drops of rain, however this didn't apply to this hot summer months m in which any drop of rain was welcomed not just by plants but human and animals too.

"Hakase! We are going to die!" Genta complained for what felt like the sixth time in the last hour and as usual, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi didn't fail to support his statement.

"Now, now," the feisty professor, who had clearly the worst time of the group, said with a forced smile" we will arrive at our lodge very soon.

"That is, if you have read the map right" Conan couldn't help but interject, immediately regretting running his mouth when he saw the faces of the other three kids.

"EHHH, we are lost?" Ayumi asked, clearly not pleased with the new information, "Now we are going to die for sure!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be to sure about that Ayumi-chan, look there", Ran pointed at a point in the distance, "I think, I can see a house there."

"Where, where" the real grade-schoolers immediately asked, jumping up in hope of spotting the desired cottage.

"There, just where the forest ends and the sea begins.", Ran described, still pointing at the edge of the forest, where you could spot tilted roof made of wood.

"Your right, I can see it too", Conan now agreed to Ran's statement.

Finally seeing their desired destination too, an invisible switch flipped, and the exhausted kids kick-started and ran down the path while leaving behind a trail of dust and cheerful laughter.

"Are you okay, Hakase?" Ai asked the old scientist, worry warming her normally cold voice and Ran couldn't help but think of them as grandfather and niece.

"Ai is really a life saver for Hakase, he always seemed so lonely, when Shinichi and I suddenly didn't have that much time left to visit him.", she noted in her head, a melancholic smile on her face.

The picture reminded her of the good old times, when she was young, Hakase's hair still dark and Shinichi still there, oh, how much she missed him, especially when seeing the kids flocking around the old man. But now was not the time for such thoughts, after all she accompanied them not to dwell on the past, but to spend some time away from home by helping the professor taking care of the kids. She knew there where a lively bundle, always searching for mysteries and secrets, and as much as she trusted the inventor, she also knew that he was getting old and if something would happen, especially in this rather isolated location, she wouldn't want the trusty old man to be alone.

"Even if he is an adult, he is still clumsy old Hakase." She thought, again recalling the past and all the query things he came up with.

"Oh, look her, what is this thing, is that some sort laser canon?" Ran could hear the happy chatter of the kids, before she even entered the lodge, holding the door open for Hakase and Ai, who came after her.

"That is a smoothie mixer, Genta" was the answer of Mitsuhiko to Genta's previous question, "you use them for making smoothies"

"What is a shmouhie?" Genta asked, completely butchering the pronunciation, what made Ran chuckle faintly.

Mitsuhiko opened his mouth to give n answer but Conan beat him to it, "It is a drink made of fruits and other sweet things. You put them in the container and press the button to activate the machine, then it mixes everything, and you are with a drink, tasting like what you put into the container."

"Seriously?!" Genta roared, "Does this work with ell rice too?"

"I doubt it does, but you would have to try it", Conan answered obviously very skeptical and Ran couldn't blame him. She has tried smoothies a number of times, mostly together with Sonoko, a smoothie lover and owner of the cottage they stayed in, what made it fairly obvious why the mixer was here, and even thought she liked the light ones with chocolate and strawberries, she couldn't imagine, how a smoothie consisting of meat or fish could be anything close to tasty. As it seemed she wasn't the only one who thought so, when Ai said, "I would start with something ordinary and then proceed with trying out the fancy stuff, if you don't like the normal ones, I doubt you would like the special ones."

"If you want, we can try to make one. Sonoko said she arranged for the fridge to be filled to the brim." Ran offered, knowing fully well that the kids would immediately jump on the offer and everybody would love a cold drink after the 2 hours walk in the sun. At first, they wanted to come by car, but Ai managed to persuade Ayumi to walk her and when Ayumi wanted something, no one of the boys would dare to defy her.

"I wonder what Shinichi would mix his in his smoothie?" Ran asked herself, after she went to get the ingrediences for a couple of normal drinks she learned from Sonoko, "Probably something with coffee beans, that mystery nerd surely does love their taste."

"No Conan-kun, you can't have that" Ran spoke sternly to the small boy who stood right before her, staring up with his big blue eyey.

"But Ran-neechan, you said we could make our smoothies with anything in the house!" Conan exclaimed, pleading with his best puppy eyes.

"Yes, but as your guardian, I have the duty to stop you from consuming any sort of coffee, be it as drink or bean, it will only stout your growth.", Ran argued back, playing her usual card against Conan's begging, an act they both were very familiar with by now and as usual Conan ceased his pledging and put on his best sulking face.

"There is no evidence for that!" he mumbled in a grumpy tone, but secretly knowing that this would not convince Ran of anything.

"I think you yourself are enough proof for that, Sonoko doesn't call you shrimp for nothing.", she proclaimed, much as Conan predicted, even though he didn't expect the hidden jab at his height, "Now stop sulking and drink your smoothie, I guarantee you will like it, even without coffee in it."

Still moping, Conan took the glass from her, taking a small sip, turning his annoyed stare in a wide-eyed look of genuine surprise, it seemed he liked the drink after all.

"I figured he would like my special "Shinichi's not-coffee" drink." Ran noted, smiling because of the pleasured look on Conan's face, reminding her of his photo, which showed him cleaning his glasses and looking surprised up at the camera. It was one of that rare moments I which he seemed like a normal child. Taking her own drink, she left the kitchen and walked out on the huge veranda of the huge timber house, "Why is he always acting so mature?" Ran asked herself, taking a sip of her banana, strawberry, apple smoothie, "Did his parents never let him play outside?"

She blinked, realizing the true meaning of her theory, quickly taking out her phone and opening her notes, "Actually that would make a lot of sense, if his parents always trained and tutored him, it would explain why he behaves so mature." That would also explain why the small boy acted so tense in the first weeks of his stay, he just wasn't used to being treated like a kid and only with time he could accept his childish side. "Poor boy, what have your parents put you through?" Ran questioned silently, knowing fully well that her mind couldn't give her an answer. His mother didn't seem like a cruel person, so she guessed it was some kind of school, specialized on highly intelligent kids.

"That would also explain why he knows so much and even speaks fluent English along with some German." Ran further noted, writing her theories down, paying careful attention to differentiate theory from fact. But knowing that speculations wouldn't help her find the truth, she decided that she would question her small brother about this, in a discreet way of course.

But for now, she had to put her mind at ease, her mother always told her that too much worrying would make you age faster and even though Ran was pretty confident in her looks and figure, she wasn't keen on getting wrinkles with 20. Suddenly, like a wink of fate, the Detective Boys came running up to the veranda, "Ran-neechan, we want to go swimming, but Hakase said we only could if you come along.", they yelled, the pledging tone in the statement clearly hearable.

"Of course, I'll come along." She happily assured them, "Now go get your stuff and ask Conan and Ai too."

And so, only a quarter of an hour later, the group consisting of Genta, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Conan and Ran found themselves at a stony beach in front of a clearly blue mountain lake. To the great disappointment of the three real grade-schooler, especially Mitsuhiko's, Ai declined the offer, claiming that she wanted to finish reading a book she brought along.

"Brrr, cold" Genta complained after testing the temperature of the water with one of his toes.

"Oii, come on Genta," Conan said in a slightly mocking tone, "It can't be that cold"

Suddenly Conan felt his feet leaving the ground "Then why don't you test it yourself" a voice exclaimed in a cheeky tone and in the next moment, Conan was hurled through the air and splashed head first in the cold water. Gasping for air, he surfaced again and casted a withering look over at his childhood friend who looked back at him with her most innocent smile. "Honestly, who could be mad at that grin" he thought to himself, now also a smile on his face, "SEE?! NOT COLD AT ALL", he then yelled back to the rest of the group at the beach. And as if that would magically take the cold away the rest of the kids followed him laughing and yelling into the clear lake, starting a splashing war between themselves and Conan joyfully engaged in the battle as well.

With a loud yell, Genta sunk down after Conan dived under water and pulled his feet away under him, immediately receiving the repayment in form of a huge splash of water right in his face by Ayumi, who had aimed at Genta, but hit Conan instead.

The battle went on for some time, but ceased eventually when Ayumi started to shiver and, like the cavaliers they were, Genta and Mitsuhiko escorted her back to the beach, leaving Ran alone with Conan.

"Should we head back too" Ran asked, not missing the goose pimples on Conan's forearm, "Nah it's ok, but what would you say about a small race instead" Conan asked back, a bold grin on his face.

"Oh?" Ran questioned raising a brow, "Should I only use my feet to make it fair?"

"I think you would regret it after losing the race." The little detective shot back, his smile turning to a confident smirk.

"Then the challenge is on." Ran said, preparing herself for the start, "Ready?"

"Set", the boy besides her continued.

"GO" they screamed in union, launching themselves into the water.

This evening Ran had to note down that Conan was indeed a very good swimmer, much like Shinichi.

The sun was slowly surpassing the horizon, slowly reaching every corner of the mountain side with its bright orange-yellow rays, falling through the huge window front, enlightening the dining room in which a teenage girl was sitting on the coach, sipping her smoothie while gazing out at the rising sun.

Ran woke up early this morning, not exactly knowing the reason, but she remembers some pictures from the dream she had this night and even though she couldn't exactly recall it, she knew the dream was different. In fact, her dreams in general have evolved from the lustful and haunting nightmares with Conan to more tranquil and harmonic ones. She rarely dreamed nowadays of passion and physical craving, but more of pleasing conversation, romantic dinners and beautiful walks. Maybe it was because she has somewhat accepted them, maybe it was because her affection for Conan has evolved from a crush . Yet she knew that pondering over such things was futile and would neither change her feelings nor her current situation. For now, all she could do was live with it and figure out what was actually happening inside of her.

"Maybe schizophrenia would make it easier, at least I could ask myself what is wrong.", she chuckled lightly over the thought of having a conversation with herself, as disturbing as this may be.

But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a silent creak, followed by soft and light footsteps, which she recognizes immediately as the ones of Conan. Hakase would be unable to walk that silently, considering his age and weight, Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko would either shuffle or trample, depending on how awake they were and Ai, well if it had been Ai, Ran surely wouldn't have noticed the steps, the girl was just way to stealthily, even in the early morning or the late night.

"Ran-neechan?" Conan's voice piped through the silent room, while his footsteps stopped besides the coach Ran sat in.

"Good morning Conan-kun," she answered, slightly turning her head to look at the sky-blue eyes, "It is a beautiful sunrise, isn't it?"

"Yeah" the small boy answered, respecting the quiet atmosphere he lifted himself up on the coach and took a seat beside Ran, admire the view together with her. Ran reached over and pulled the boy a bit closer to her, while resting her cheek on his head and much to her surprise, the boy didn't even tense up. It seemed that he enjoyed her comforting warmth as much as she enjoyed his.

They sat like this, both not moving much, till they heard the shuffling steps and yawning voices of the remaining members of the detective boys coming up the floor. Ran stood up in order to prepare breakfast for all of them and much to her delight, her little brother followed her, grabbed a stool, dragged it over to the kitchen and climbed on top of it to help Ran, even if it wasn't much Ran would let him do. The small gesture really touched Ran and she couldn't help but think of her dreams, which were filled with scenes like this. But then realization dawned upon her, realization that it could never be like in her dreams. Conan would never live alone with her, he would never kiss her in the morning and he will never wait at the altar for her. As much as she tried to banish the bad thoughts, as much as she tried to stay cheerful, sadness overcome her in the end. It was not the sadness that crushed her lungs, drugged her mind and numbed her senses, it fel like cold water was slowly flooding over her, stinging and scratch like small shards of eyes in her heart. It was painful, even more that before, but this time she was still in control, it hurt but she was still here, here with Conan.

"Ran-neechan?" the little voice reached her, like it always reached her, but this time it didn't take the pain away. "Are you crying?" he then asked, his voice tainted by a mixture of worry, uncertainty and surprise.

"I'm fine Conan-kun" Ran said, "these are only tears from the onions", she assured him whipping them away with a towel and holding back the rest. Most surprisingly, the dam didn't break this time and like her true feelings, her tears didn't come out.

Still not completely ride of her sadness, Ran was at least distracted enough by the noisy children at the breakfast table, to temporarily forget her sadness. Laughing over Genta's stupid grimaces, be astonished by Mitsuhiko's knowledge and slightly embarrassed by Ayumi's girly questions masked her pain and grief nearly perfectly, but even if it would have been a perfect mask, Conan would still have known that something wasn't right. After the meal, Ran excused herself to go and take a shower and when she left the room, Conan couldn't else but notice her slightly hanging shoulders and dragging steps.

"What has happened?" a monotone voice asked him from behind, paying careful attention to keep the volume low.

"I don't know Haibara, it didn't seem to me like anything happened and still, she started to cry.", Conan answered in a concerned tone, "she really is my biggest mystery to solve." He then added, his voice heavy with fondness and a little pride.

"Please spare me the overly romantic part," the small scientist replied, her face showing clear irritation over the detective's comment.

But her face quickly turned to a serious expression, "You know, sometimes asking is the best way to solve a mystery.", she then remarked, while slowly turning on her heel, following the remaining kids in the sun yard and leaving Conan behind in the shadow of the coach.

"I know, Haibara," Conan whispered faintly, "but I am scared of the answer."

The fresh air helped Ran to cool her head down and the soothing sun melted the cold in her heart, effectively fighting the after-effects of her sudden sadness attack. After the gravest pain was gone and Ran was once again in control, she slowly lowered her head and let it rest on her arms, which were crossed on the railing of the veranda, "I'm the worst!" she sighed mentally, "I lost control and made Conan worry, again." Ran knew, that she had to put up a better act in those situations or else others would not only start to worry over her, but to also suspect that something wasn't right. Maybe she could put the blame for her mental breakdowns on the absence of Shinichi, but she really didn't want to give her dad or Sonoko even more reasons to curse the poor absente detective. As enraging and upsetting as his constant absence was, she knew that it had to be something very, VERY important, most likely something endangering the life of hundreds of people if not more, or else he would not value it higher than his normal life. As fame hungry and boisterous as he always seemed, in secret he greatly valued his private time and spending it with people close to him and since his parents left for America, he seemed all the more in need of her presence, the days in school and even the bickering with Sonoko. After all his independence, he could never stand to be lonely, a fact Ran got to know when she went on holidays with Sonoko in her 3rd year of middle school. At that time Shinichi's parents had already left for America and Hakase was absent as well, so Shinichi had no one he considered as close friends around. At first it seemed like no big deal, but half-way through her holidays, Shinichi called more and more and when they finally came back after a week, Ran found her childhood friend in a horrible state. It seemed that he has shut himself in the study of his dad for days and worked on unsolved cases, not even leaving the room to eat or sleep, only interrupting his work to call her. He was in that state for 3 full days before Ran visited him and when she did, he was a complete wreck, having heavy mood swings, ranging from pure rage, to ecstatic happiness and ending in a complete breakdown where he started to cry like a baby and stammered complete nonsense. This was one of the few times Ran saw her Shinichi cry, but it was undoubtedly the worst of all the few times. At that day, he ended up crying for full 3 hours, completely drenching Ran's shirt and falling in a deep and surprisingly peaceful sleep afterwards. It was a hard task to drag him in his bed and the part of dressing him was something Ran just couldn't do, so she left him like he was for the night, coming back the next day to check on him, only to discover that he was still asleep and stayed that way till the evening.

A small smile stole itself on Ran's face after she recalled the memory and she faintly muttered, "You are really a big idiot, Shinichi. This must hurt you at least as much, if not even more than me."

She has pursued that thought countless times, constructing thesis after thesis as to what could be so important to Shinichi for him to stay away that long and, as much as she hated to accept it, she was always left with only two possible conclusions. Either he had to stay away from home for the safety of the people close to him or he simply was unable to come back. While the first option portrayed her friend in the armor of as shining knight, still acting on his own will power, the second was not only the more probable but also the more distressing one, implying that the Great Detective of the East has lost, in some way or another. But what was even worse than all of those thoughts, was the uncertainty of not knowing the truth.

In fact, it was very similar to her feelings for Conan and if she just knew what was actually happening, she could focus on how to cope with it, but now there was always this tiny fragment of hope. The hope that everything was just a misunderstanding, solvable if one knew just how to unravel the tangled feelings and fears. Ran knew there was no easy way out, there rarely was after all, but as long as the hope was there, it could always disappoint her.

She heaved a heavy sigh and faintly asked "Why is life so hard?" not expecting an answer.

"Well it comes down to what you define as hard." A voice besides her reply and made Ran jump.

"HAKASE!?" she gasped, unable to prevent her voice from squawking.

"Ah sorry, sorry. I didn't intend to intrude like that, it's just that you seemed so lost standing her.", the old man explained hastily, waving his hands in front of him, "I thought you might need a listening ear or at least some assuring words", he stated further. Ran was still surprised but as her brain digested the words, she was really touched by the old scientist's action.

"Yeah, maybe that would help, but it will probably take a while" she said, her voice dropping to a bitter tone in the second part of the sentence.

"Oh, don't worry my dear" the professor was quick to assure her, "if it does help you it is worth every second of it."

"Thanks, Hakase" Ran replied and then started to elaborate her situation to the old man, "It's just that there is so much for me to worry over. I worry if my grades are good, if we have enough money to pay the bills at home, if I can ever get my parents back together, if Conan is happy and if Shinichi is okay." She knew that she has left out her biggest worry, but as understanding as the professor was, she doubted that he could take the hit of knowing about her forbidden feelings. So, she kept quiet and continued to detail her feelings, "Any of those things is no big deal on itself and even combined they are manageable, but not for long. Sometimes I just want to throw the towel, just want to leave everything behind and only live in my dreams, but then again, I know that there are people who count on me, people who I am important to and I don't want to disappoint them by leaving. Although I know what should be right, what I should do, I can't help but question if I actually do the right thing and even when people tell me what to do, I can't help but question if they really tell me the truth. So, in the end you could say that I am just lost.", she ended her monologue.

Raising her head, she looked over at the old man besides her, who was furrowing his brows and thinking thoroughly before he began to speak, "Well, I can't say that I am in any position either to tell you what you should do, but even if I can't help you directly, I can give you some advice,. It is completely normal to feel lost, especially when you have so much do think about and do, in such a short time, but I think it would be wise to some time to sort out what is truly important."

"Truly important", Ran questioned tilting her head slightly and the old man smiled at her. "When I was a small boy", he started again, "my grandfather used to say, "There is no point in building a door if you have no frame for it." Frankly at that time I didn't really get what he meant, because I thought, why shouldn't you build a door if you know you'll build a frame too and only years later I really understood, what he meant. Yes, it is a good thing to worry over your future and plan ahead, but isn't it more important what is right now? Sure, your grades might drop, but if they were good till now, why should they suddenly start to drop? The same goes for Conan and Shinichi. It is noble of you to care for them, but I do think that both of them are capable of taking care of themselves and will also talk to you if something is not right. So, in short, focus on the task and things at hand and think of your future when it comes, that way you are less stressed and more adaptable to sudden change.", the elderly man finished and Ran couldn't help but smile over him. He really was like a trusty old grandfather and she was really grateful for his advice.

"Thank you, Hakase.", she spoke in softly, "I'll remember your grandfather's words"

"No need to thank me" the old man answered, smiling gently over the girl he knew since her birth and came to regard as one of the children he never had, "I'm just happy that this old brain of mine is still useful.", he then added jokingly making Ran chuckle slightly.

"Genta!", Ayumi shrieked, accusing the boy once again, "You have stolen my bar of chocolate!"

"I wasn't me, I was playing soccer with Mitsuhiko in the garden." The normally vulgar boy stated, paying careful attention not to upset the girl in front of him even more, while fending her accusations off, "I didn't even have the time to steal your chocolate!"

"You liar! Liar! Liar! Liar! STUPID GENTA !" , the small girl screamed, even louder this time and big tears began to run down her cheeks.

The whole fiasco started when Agasa offered every child a full bar of milk chocolate, stating that this would be the only one they get and while Mitsuhiko and Ayumi saved it mostly for later, Genta just gulped down the whole bar. After Ayumi and Mitsuhiko hide their chocolate in their rooms, mostly to prevent Genta from sneaking a bite, the three met up in front of the house to play soccer with Conan. At some point, Ayumi was tired and excused herself, leaving the boys to play. Barely a minute later she stormed back out, waving her empty chocolate wrapper around, face twisted in an upset frown, and started to yell at Genta for stealing her chocolate. At that time Conan wasn't around anymore and Haibara was chatting with Ran and Hakase at the sea side, so by the time the 4 responsible ones caught wind of the argument, it had already heated up to a point where Ayumi and Mitsuhiko, who took Ayumi's side after Genta pointed out that Mitsuhiko too could be the culprit, just screamed at each other, trying to yell louder than the other side to get their point across. Only by separating the kids, sending Genta with Hakase while Ran tried to calm Mitsuhiko and Ayumi, the quarrel finally ceased, and Conan and Ai could start to gather information on what has happened.

"Genta, that stupid liar, stole my chocolate and won't admit it!" Ayumi was quick to point out to Ai and Conan. "Why do you think Kojima-kun did it?" Ai inquired, and Conan immediately understood that she was not agreeing to the accusation, neither did he.

"Of course Genta did it, who else would be such a glutton?" Ayumi answered, not caring how she spoke of her close friend.

"How did you discover that somebody stole the chocolate?" Conan now ask, already in Detective-Mode.

"After I left you guys out her, I went to the toilet, then, after a minute or so, I went to the girl's room to take another bite of MY chocolate. That was when I discovered that it wasn't there anymore." The brunette girl finished her narrative.

"Have you immediately left the room or searched for you chocolate, after you couldn't find it?" Conan continued his line of questioning.

"The wrapper was still laid in the hiding place, so there was no need to search for anything." Ayumi replied, still visibly upset, but more in control of her temper than before, "So, I left the room right away.

Thanking Ayumi for the explanation, Conan pulled Haibara to the side and asked her to gather Genta's and Mitsuhiko's statement, urging her to pay close attention to what their movements were and search for possible openings to sneak away. He then hurried of, assuring Ran and Haibara that he would not peek at anything unrelated to the case and made his way to the girl's room. The door wasn't locked, but Conan, who went back to his room when Ayumi left for the toilet and only came back out when he heard the screams of the kids, was certain that nobody had sneaked past his door, which lay between the corridor entrance and the girl's room.

"So, whoever committed the theft had to come through the window" the detective concluded, approaching the window front. He noticed that one of them was half opened, definitely wide enough for a person to fit through, but then he noticed the large pill of clothes, which were stacked neatly right under the window. Taking a closer look , he discovered a brown smudge on a piece of clothing, at the bottom of the bundle, implying that this was the hiding place Ayumi used.

"Interesting", the shrunken teen detective muttered, carefully shifting the piles of clothing so he could lift himself up to look out of the window. The window faced the forest, which started at the back of the building and Conan noticed how close the branches were to scratching at the window glass. It would be impossible for any human to climb through the window without disrupting the twigs, most probably breaking a few of them, but none of the twigs showed signs recent damage.

"There's no way Genta could come in through here without leaving any evidence, when it would have been next to impossible for me." Conan mumbled to himself with certainty, "besides, the window is at least 2 meters (7 feet) away from the ground and there is nothing a small person could step on to gain the needed reach."

Dropping himself back to the ground, once again paying careful attention not to disrupt the stacks of clothing, he regarded the crime scene as now useless to further isolate the true culprit.

When he left the room, he had no doubt that nobody in the house would have either the needed time nor abilities to commit this crime, which left him with only one conclusion.

They were not alone her in this remote part of the mountains.

When Conan came back from his search in the girl's room, Ran has expected him to gather everyone and reveal the truth of the chocolate theft. Instead he marched straight, without saying a word or even raising his head, to the forest at the back of the house, so Ran assumed that his investigations weren't finished quite yet. Suddenly, she stood up and left Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Ai sitting in the grass, shouting back that she would keep an eye on Conan, so he wouldn't get lost, in fact she never even considered the option of Conan losing his orientation, but it seemed that this was the most appropriate excuse for the moment. After all, it wouldn't be very assuring if they knew that she just wanted to observe Conan for her comparison between him and Shinichi, because even though she has seen both of them enough while solving a case, she didn't want to rely solely on her memories.

Hurrying up to not lose him when he entered the entangled brushwood, she reached his sides only meters before he vanished between the bushes and trees.

Turning his head when he heard the running steps of somebody behind him, Conan quickly focused his attention on Ran, who came to a hold just besides him, and tilted his head slightly to one side while widening his eyes. Ran understood the gesture as the intended question and answered, slightly panting from her sprint, "I can't let you wander out into the forest alone, what if you got lost or a bear attacked you?" Conan rolled his eyes at the answer and spoke in played annoyance, "There are no bears here, Ran-neechan", and before Ran could interject anything he continued with a smirky grin, "at least not since Sonoko-neechan came for the first time." Ran only scoffed at the remark and Conan took it as a sign that this conversation topic wouldn't get further discussed, so he turned around and focused his mind back on his initial task: finding evidence. Sadly, it hadn't rained in the past few days, so the ground was hard as stone and would not show any prints, even if the whole Kid task force would trample over it. Realizing that the ground wouldn't tell him anything, the young detective turned his attention to the very dry looking plants, observing them for any signs of somebody coming through here. To his big disappointment there wasn't anything to find either in the immediate area of the house, so he decided that he would search in a wider area for any evidence. For a long time, there was nothing unusual until he carefully shoved a beautifully-blooming wild rose out of his way, and caught the sight of something shining faintly, hidden by a lair of mud. Eagerly he dug up the possible sign of the culprit, only to discover that he found a crushed plastic bottle.

Ran had to hide a chuckle upon seeing the look of disappointment on Conan's face, which reminded her strongly of grumpy pet, pressed by their owners to wear some despicable dress and suddenly a picture of Conan in a white dress with red polka dots and a little ribbon in his hair plopped up in her mind. It looked so utterly ridiculous and cute at the same time that the "aww" that first left her lips was quickly followed by a fit of laughter. Holding her stomach, she had to lean against a huge pine tree for support, getting her shirt all sticky with resin, while trying to regain her composure, but failing spectacularly.

Of course, it irritated Conan to no extent when Ran just started to laugh, with no apparent reason to do so and even though he loved the sound of her clear and cheerful laughter, he felt like he was the cause of it, what made him somehow embarrassed.

"Care to explain?" he asked, after the laughter has ceased and Ran was only left with a smilie, but rivalling Kaito Kid's ones in doing so.

"Sorry Conan-kun" she managed to breath out between her gasp for air, " I just thought of something funny."

"Ehh?" Conan asked slipping his childish mask over his face, "It must be really funny. I want to hear it to!" he chirped, determined to resolve this mystery too.

"You see," Ran started "it's kinda hard to show it to you here, but I could when are back at home."

Not sensing the great danger that approach Conan happily replied, "Is this a promise?" and buried his own grave by mouthing that question.

"OF COUSRE IT IS!" Ran immediately returned, now realizing the unique chance Conan had unconsciously offered here with his idea, "but you have to promise me to play along or else it won't be funny", she pressed, only millimeters away from grasping her chance

Still not sensing the horrible future that awaited him, Conan only replied with a cheerful, "Yes", which sealed his own fate. The moment after the words left his mouth Ran jumped up and urged Conan to finish the case quickly and while he started to search once more, the only thing she could think of was whether blue or red dots would suit the boy better.

By the time Conan and Ran came back from the excurse to validate Conan's theory, the teenage girl has decided that blue would be the way to go, because it did suit Conan's eyes better. And now, after she had finished this important train of thoughts, she notice the puzzled expression Conan wore, which indicated that he didn't find the needed evidence to determine the culprit. She was tempted to cheer him up, but before she could open her mouth the boy spoke up, "It makes no sense."

A little bit puzzled over the sudden statement, Ran asked, "What makes no sense?", hoping that, much like Shinichi, Conan would better structure his thoughts and theories when he had to explain them to somebody else, who wasn't an ingenious high school detective.

"This case!" Conan spate out, frustration clearly hearable, "It is like the thief walked through a wall or teleported himself."

"Well, maybe there is a secret passage somewhere in the house", Ran offered and Conan had to grin a little over her fantastic suggestion, which she always brought up when he asked her about her opinion on a case.

"Why should the Suzuki family build a secret passage?" Conan asked turning his head to face his big sister, "and even if they did, how could our intruder know about it, if Sonoko-neechan either didn't know herself or thought it not important enough to show or tell you?"

Ran had to admit that the point Conan made was an excellent one and Sonoko would definitely boast over any sort of secret passage she knew, especially if she owned the building featuring it.

"Well… " Ran tried again, scratching her head slightly, "then maybe the culprit can shrink himself"

"There is no way that humans can just shri…" Conan started but cut himself of, avoiding this topic to not plant any strange ideas in Ran's mind. "She really is better of not knowing" the detective thought to himself, "or else she wouldn't be able to smile like that.", he added sadly, recalling her grin from earlier, still not quite understanding the cause of it.

"Well, maybe Kaito Kid stole the chocolate since he could obviously pull that crime off without leaving evidence." Ran started to spin her fancies even further, seemingly not noticing how Conan interrupted his sentence," maybe he needed practice."

"Why should he need practice in stealing chocolate from a child?!" Conan questioned mentally, thinking that it would be more likely to find chocolate where Kid had broken in, but the mentioning of Kaito Kid brought up an idea.

"Maybe… But, no… but if,… then… IT COULD WORK AGAIN!" the small boy suddenly ejaculated, startling Ran slightly and dashed off to the house while shouting instructions back at Ran, "Gather everyone in ten minutes in the girls room."

Ran, still standing at the exact same spot, was a bit puzzled as to what could work again, "Is he trying to recreate the crime? But then why does he need 10 minutes to recreate it? Maybe he needs to find something first, or somebody.", then, the rusty detective reasoning Ran had inherited from her parent's and sharped by observing Shinichi, kicked in and she started to think back, search for clues in what Conan said and ultimately produced her own theory. "Maybe it really was Kaito Kid who stole it, but not because he needed practice, but stole it unintentionally instead." She muttered while slowly trudging back to the house, "Sonoko told me that they would display a large Ruby here the next month and Jirokichi already hinted at this in an interview, Kid would probably be able to understand the hint and had come to check out the place while nobody is there. If that is really the case, then maybe one of his doves stole it, when it spotted the chocolate through the open window and Kid simply didn't notice that." But at that thought Ran paled, if this was true then Conan sought out Kid in order to discuss the matter with him, but before she stormed off to protect her little brother with her life, she remember not just the no harm policy of Kid, but the strange sort of pact Conan and Kid had agreed on and which prohibited both from doing anything to each other outside of the heists. Even though, the thought of small Conan meeting an internationally wanted criminal on his own made her feel uncomfortable, she shoved the thoughts aside when she rounded the corner and caught sight of the other six people, smiling when she noticed that the 3 kids have made up with each other. "They really trust each other a lot," she muttered to herself, thinking back at her own time in grade school, "much like Shinichi and I did and still do."

"Oh Ran-neechan" Ayumi's tiny voice piped up after she spotted the older girl and Ran made her way over to them, telling them about Conan's instructions. Obviously the three wanted to chase after their friend and help him find that idiot who stole Ayumi's precious chocolate but Ran and Hakase manage to convince them to wait for Conan in the house and so the group, lead by the 3 restless children, went to the girl's room.

When they opened the door however, they only found Conan sitting in front of the slightly opened window, waiting for something, but when they wanted to ask him what that was, he silence them with a rough gesture and motioned them to sit down and be quiet.

Not wanting to ruin the strange plan of the small detective the rest of the group did as he ordered and sat down, waiting for something to happen.

"Ayumi, can you see something moving?" Genta whispered to the girl besides him, obviously no longer able to keep quiet and frankly, Ran couldn't blame him. It was just not normal for children to simply sit still, especially not if nothing happened and nobody knew for what they were waiting exactly. In the last 10 minutes Ran was always expecting to see a glimpse of white followed by the appearance of the mysterious phantom thief, but nothing alike happened.

"Shhhh", Ayumi hissed back trying to seem patient, but Ran had noticed how her feet started to twitch since the 5th minute. And even Mitsuhiko had started to play with the corner of his jacket, only Conan and Ai sat in silence, not moving a muscle. Almost she spoke up, demanding to know what they were waiting for, when a faint rustling of leaves and twigs could be heard.

Immediately everybody was ceasing every other activity besides listening and, with growing tension one could hear how the noise came closer.

A smirk broke out on Conan's face, confirming everybody's suspicion that this was what they were waiting for.

Eight pairs of eyes were starring intensively at the slightly open window, no body daring to blink, fearing to miss something.

The noise now started to stutter, as if the person who caused it became aware of how close they were to their target location and halted from time to time, listening for any unusual sounds.

Now they could even see how branches in the distance moved, but despite the rather short gap, between them and their visitor, the sounds were oddly silent, but that just underlined the skills and expertise of Kaito Kid.

Suddenly every indication of the approaching guest vanished, leaving behind only the natural noises one would expect in a forest, consisting of bird chattering and the whistling of the wind.

Everybody was now like petrified, holding their breaths, waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting

And then suddenly a small something plunged through the window gap, lading on the stack of clothes and before somebody could move a finger, Conan flung himself forward, a huge sieve clutched in both hands, and slammed it on top of the piles of clothes, trapping the newly arrived guest in it.

All eyes stared at Conan as he shifted his body to the side, allowing them to see the prisoner, and proclaimed, "This is our thief."

Ran could feel her jaw drop and judging from the amused look on Conan's face, hers wasn't the only one. Inside the makeshift cage, a small ball of fluffy, brownish grey fur dashed around, trying desperately to find a hole to escape.

"A SQUIRREL!?", Ran, Hakase, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta shouted in union, startling the poor creature even more and even Haibara had a dumbfound expression on her face.

"You don't have to yell that much", Conan scolded them," or the squirrel will die of a heart attack."

"But… but… A SQUIRREL?! How? I mean… how did you?" Mitsuhiko was the first to find his voice again, asking the question everybody tried to answer.

"When you have eliminated the impossible," Conan started his usual quote" whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." But when only confused faces stared back at him, he started to elaborate over the case, "My researches have proven with no doubt that nobody present could have committed the crime, either because of physical incapacity or lack of time. This meant that obviously an outsider would have to be the culprit." he then continued, gently patting the head of the squirrel which he carefully took out of the cage, still securing a steady grip on the hide of his neck, "However, there isn't any other house in the next few kilometres and the probability of a hiker being the culprit was minuscule. Besides, committing the crime would require a person to sneak behind the house, have the strength to lift themselves up to the window while taking care of the branches in some way and seeing where Ayumi hide the chocolate or stumbling over it by accident.

After all this, it would still not explain what the person was doing behind our house and why they decided to only steal the chocolate and not even touch the luggage that was still standing in the room. If we put all of this together, we learn that our culprit only cared for the food, while he was nimble enough to make the required stunt, so it had to be an animal and because birds would have a hard time getting past the branches, I suspected it was some kind of small mammal." Concluding his narration, Conan looked at the stunned faces of his friends, smiling over their bewildered expressions.

"Couldn't you've told us this WITHOUT making us wait of 15 minutes in absolute silence.", Genta then roared, visibly upset, but Conan only retorted, "I didn't have enough prove so I had to catch our little culprit" while helping the little thief to climb up on a branch and watching as it dashed away.

"Come on guys" Genta said, still mad at Conan" let's play something fun instead of a waiting game.", and Ayumi and Mitsuhiko were quick to agree, dragging Ai and Hakase along to partake in the game too, leaving Ran and Conan behind,

Still slightly amazed over the solution, Ran just watch as her little brother looked after his friends, looking like a father who let his children go, proud and a little sad at the same time. It quite suited him and Ran recognized again what an important role he played for his friends, behaving more like an older brother than a normal friend. She couldn't help but feel a warmth spread in her chest, fuelled by the feeling of pride for Conan, but it wasn't the pride a sister would feel, but rather the pride a wife would feel for her husband. A month ago, the thought would have sent her in a state of embarrassment and denial, followed by nervous breakdown, but now she couldn't help but feel happy. Slowly approaching the grade schooler, who has turned once again to look out of the window, from behind, she spread her arms and hugged him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Hey, Conan-kun" she started, "shouldn't you feel disappointed over how dull the case was?" she asked him, faint curiosity tainting her voice.

"I guess, I should," the little boy in her arms admitted, sounding a lot older than he looked, "but you know, right now I'm just glad that it wasn't something serious." , he continued. His answer surprised Ran who hadn't expected that and like he sensed her confusion, Conan started to explain, "I have seen, death, despair and betrayal that often that I am just grateful for such low stakes, not feeling obliged to solve the case right, not feeling the doubt of whether I caught the right culprit or not and not seeing what hurt and dread the solution causes." The little boy in her arms chuckled slightly, "Of course, a detective should eliminate confusion, allow his client and fans to see the truth and be a symbol of truth, but unlike in fiction, the closing of a case is not the happy end. Humans live on, fight against all the negativity of losing something and even though they know the truth, this doesn't bring back what is gone. A symbol is only a façade after all, built to spend comfort to everybody who doesn't question, but it's not a solution. At some point, every symbol will fall and what was locked away will only hit harder, than it ever could before", the small boy ended.

The earnest and dread in his voice startled Ran, how could a boy with the tender age of seven have such sophisticated and painful thoughts over reality and the human being? And even though she knew that the small boy would rather carry those burdens, than ignore the truth, she couldn't help but want to lift this weight of his shoulders. Pulling him closer to her, she tightened her hug, spending as much comfort to Conan as she could… and he accepted it wholeheartedly.

The rest of the trip went smoothly, without any further incidences and besides the bitter note, obviously caused by the little squirrel thief, everybody could relax and take some time off from their usual lives. The kids had fun playing the whole day at the stony beach of the nearby lake, Hakase could relax and Haibara was even considerate enough to soften his diet program a little for the duration of their stay. However, Ran got the feeling that the trip had the best effect on Conan, he seemed a lot less tense and even put some his worries aside for the moment, to concentrate on recovering his peace of mind. So, all in all one could call the trip a complete success, if not for the strange feeling Ran got after they came back.

It started only as a small pinching sensation in her chest, but she could feel it getting stronger as the day progressed and by the time she came home from school it had grown to hurt considerably. However, the pain would always decrease, when she was at home enjoying the time with Conan and her dad. The pain became especially strong when things didn't go according to what she had expected, once for example she had to stay longer after school, helping her classmates with some preparations, a task that she would normally not mind doing, but at this particular day it annoyed her to no end and it took a lot of willpower to not snap at anybody. At another day, they went to meet a client, which meant that her dad got a new case and Ran and Conan simply tagged along, finding themselves, like countless times before, between a dangerous killer and his victim. Thank to Ran's karate, they could take out the man without any injuries, aside from the ones the culprit received by Ran, who hadn't held herself back as strongly as usual. She didn't quite know what the man did, besides killing an innocent person and attacking them, that ticked her off that much, but fact was that she didn't only break his arm, but also cracked a few of his ribs.

"It's his fault anyways." Ran scoffed annoyed, "he shouldn't have threatened Conan-kun!"

Sitting alone on the coach, she had intended to watch TV like she usually did when neither Conan nor her Dad would come home, but today she just couldn't prevent herself from thinking back to the case and again and again the words of the man echoed in her head.

"You little brat, you better forget what you've just said, or you will see your big sister never again!" the man had said, only to receive a death glare from Conan, who stood protective in front of the women who was the man's target. "Oh, a stubborn one, are we?" the man continued to taunt Conan, "Fine, I would have shown mercy because you were a child, but now I will bind you to a tree, so you can listen and watch, when I take my sweet time with your sister.", he emphasized his words by licking over the knife he held, showing a mad grin and glaring in a very adultery way over at Ran. Conan, who obviously understand the meaning behind the man's word and actions growled a loud, "YOU BASTARD!" and when the man started to chuckle over the little boy, it was too much for Ran to take. Roaring like an angry bear, she charged at the man, kicking his hand with the knife away, smashing it into wall, not only getting rid of the knife, but judging by the cracking noise also fracturing his arm. Using the momentum of her kick, she landed a heavy punch with her flat hand at the man's solar plexus, forceful enough to send him flying back into the kitchen sink. The impact from that was apparently enough to knock the man out for the time being and Ran only realized exactly how dangerous her attack was for the attacker, when Conan inspected him and sighed a "he should survive this." The memory of his worried face was still so clear like everything just happened a minute ago, but what irritated her the most, when thinking back, was her reaction to this.

She was jealous!

She was jealous that Conan worried over the killer instead of her. Of course, every reason he had to worry over her paled next to the dangerous situation the murderer was in and even though he deserved not a single ounce of pity, he should not die. That was after all, what made the difference between a detective and a killer. The detective puts any judgment aside and leaves it to the law to sentence the person, while a killer takes matters in his own hand and decides what would happen to his victim.

"What have I done?", Ran asked herself, sensing something like a Déjà Vue.

How often has she asked herself this question in the last few hours, how often did she lose her temper and did something she always came to regret?

Her mind started to work hard, pondering over the questions, searching for a possible solution, a cause for her behavior and her mind always gave her the same answer.

"I'm losing control over my feelings?" she questioned loudly, her words echoing in the silent room, asking the question back.

"No…. No. NO! I can't afford to lose control.", she tried to say but her voice cracked and the words came out with a loud sob. After few hours of thinking her mind was clear. She had succeeded in her task. Her confusion is gone.

" I miss that idiot that's why I'm thinking too much , I will control my feelings. And I now know that I see Shinichi in Conan that's why I have that type of feelings . he resembles him too much not by just his face but also with attitude, behavior , abilities and somehow feelings towards me also." Ran thought in her mind .

Next day , late in the night.

Ran, open the door, for the love of God!

Leave me, Conan! I do not deserve your forgiveness!

The little detective was about ten minutes trying to force the door of the sink, where his loved one had been locked. He could not see it, but he could hear how he cried out of heart. What he could not appreciate was how he had both hands covering his mouth and eyes wide open, terrified by what had just happened. Nor could he want to believe what he had just done, it was a torrent of emotions that he was not capable of controlling. Fear, anger, sadness, but above all repentance. I wanted to go back and erase that moment of his life and that of the little Conan, who had to be traumatized. The shameless young man, on the other hand, tried to stretch the knob of the door with all his might, but he could not move a single centimeter. Conan was nervous, sweating and with cheeks on, one more than the other. It had been a long time since he was trying to get Ran right out, but she did not want to hear a single word of what he said to her. The only thing he did was to call that he was a horrible person, that no one could accept his apologies after what he had just done. Who could have imagined how things would twinkle in such a short time ...

 _ **Half an hour before ...**_

\- I'm already home!

Conan had just opened the door of his home and, to his surprise, there was no one. Not at Kogoro watching a Yoko Okino show on TV, or Ran picking up dinner dishes or cooking by washing them. Odd thing, since the floor lamps above were seen switched from the street. The little man returned home after spending all day at Tropical Land amusement park with doctor Agasa, Haibara and the entire League of Junior Detectives. Although initially he did not want to go, Ayumi and company insisted so much that there was no other remedy. The reason for not wanting to go to Tropical Land was the bad memories that this park took, especially the day when his life changed forever. The day in which those damn black men forced him to take a pill that, Instead of killing him as they foresee, he shrank it until he regains the look of a seven-year-old boy. The day that Shinichi Kudo became the little Conan Edogawa. Since then, his persecution has not stopped, but lately things were very calm. There were few cases for Kogoro, the clues about the Organization every time took longer to emerge and the atmosphere with all the people around him was quite unusual. Maybe what could be baptized as calm before the storm ... the clues about the Organization increasingly took longer to emerge and the atmosphere with all the people around him was quite unusual. Maybe what could be baptized as calm before the storm ... the clues about the Organization increasingly took longer to emerge and the atmosphere with all the people around him was quite unusual. Maybe what could be baptized as calm before the storm ...

Returning to reality, they had passed eleven at night, and none of the Mouri had taken his head to receive in Conan after being all day in Tropical Land. It really seemed that there was no one on that floor, but suddenly the little detective detected a sound from the room where he used to sleep. On tiptoes, the boy with adult brain approached the door of the room, and opened it a little to see who could have been there. He was the father of the Ran, in Kogoro Mouri, talking on the phone.

\- I understand perfectly, inspector. Yes, it is a very serious situation ...

\- _Hmm ... Interesting. A call from the inspector Megure at this time of the night ... Surely it has been overweight._ She thought of Shinichi, starting to fight several possibilities.

Suddenly, however, his theories were cut when the door opened. Kogoro had seen him spying on the opening, and he had face to few friends.

\- A moment, inspector ... It turns out that I found a little bug that was spying on us while you and I talked ...

The private detective left the phone on one of the shelves and took Conan through the lapel. The boy was floating for a few seconds, until Ran's father left him on the floor once they had entered the office of the Mouri Detective Agency.

-damn kid, cannot you be two minutes quiet without getting your nose where you do not ask for? Stay here until Ran returns, that conversation is totally private.

\- Eh? Has not the Ran still gone? Asked the young researcher, curiously.

\- Clarify that no! He said that today he would dine with his schoolmates to celebrate that they had finished the exams, do not you remember?

In Conan he had to make memories to know when the girl had mentioned all that. It had been early in the morning, during breakfast, when Ran announced she would come home late that night. Along with Sonoko, Masumi and other classmates, they would be celebrating the end of the exams at the institute. While sitting on the couch, Shinichi had time to remember his days at the institute, the class strip had already been lost and he also missed contact with his friends. Yes, I was quite comfortable with the Junior Detective League, Haibara and primary school children, but obviously that could not last a lifetime. One day, those black men should finally find, recover their body of seventeen years and make everything return to normal. He should no longer live in that apartment shared with Ran and Kogoro, he would return home, next to Professor Agasa. At last everything would be like before ...

\- Oh!

That cry brought out the little detective of his thoughts and turned his gaze to the door of the agency. It was a sound of strong grip, coming from the stairs inside the building. That voice was feminine, but not of any girl. No sir, I could not be at all wrong, it had to be her by force. But what did you have to do to make such a shout with this volume of voice? The boy approached the door quickly, wondering what could have happened to him? When he opened the door, the image he saw in Conan was the least expected:

\- Ra-Ran!

Indeed. Before the entrance to the building, on the first step, the Ran was lying with his face to the floor and his arms picking up the steps in front of him. In some way, the girl had been bursting and she had fallen from scum on the stairs. It did not seem that he had damaged anything of the clothes that he had in the fall, a blue sky dress that reached to his knees; but it was surely wrong, especially in the face. One could sense how Kogoro's daughter emitted small guttural sounds, like pain, while trying to get up as she could. Quickly, Conan lowered the stairs and stretched his beloved arm, doing his best to restore the verticality.

\- Are you okay, Ran? Asked the Conan, with an innocent voice.

Once the girl could stand up again, she leaned against the wall with her left arm while covering her face with her right hand. The little detective could see for a few seconds that his partner had the red nose.

\- More or less ... Oh, what cream ... - the young girl complained, while trying to climb the stairs in a very drowsy way.

\- Wait, I'll help you. Said Conan, who held his hand together before climbing one by one, the floor steps.

\- Thanks, Conan. I think that the final part of the stairs to house I can go up alone, do not worry.

\- We cannot get in. Your father has made me out because he is talking on the phone with the inspector Megure. He told me to wait in the agency, so we'll have to go there a little. He answered in Conan.

\- Did you get it out? It will be unrepresentable ... "the young woman complained, which seemed to be a little tired.

\- Nothing happens, surely this is an important case. -The detective boy said, looking again at the face of his friend and seeing something unpleasant- Ran, you are coming out of your nose ...

The girl looked at Conan with curiosity and passed two fingers between the nose and the lips. In fact, I had blood stained. However, he was less important.

\- Quiet, not too much. It must have been a matter of courage and enough.

\- Anyway, I'm going to look for the kit. You sit down on the couch and keep your head straight, okay? The young man explained, opening the door of the agency.

\- It's ok ... Thank you so much, Conan. She answered, with an angelic smile.

The little detective got a little red before entering the detective agency behind Ran, then closed the door and went straight to the sink. Once there, Conan climbed into the water pile and opened the closet where the pharmacy was. While looking for her, her thoughts were full of questions.

\- _There is something that does not fit. How could it be impeded on the first step of the ladder? With the times that this scale has climbed and lowered, it is unlikely that it has not been realized. In addition ... the Ran is very tired, and it is impossible that it is only because of the blow. Something must have happened between dinner and the way home that has left in this state._

After a few minutes, Conan grabbed the medicine kit and lowered it from the basin pile. He was worried about what could have happened to Ran at dinner with his colleagues, because that attitude was not at all normal in her. And when he returned to the dining room, he found another one: the girl had thrown her back on the couch, and was lying with his face buried between pillows. A shoe had fallen to the ground, and the other one still hung on his foot. In addition, he could hear his breathing, strong and deep, as if he lacked air. There was no doubt that something was going wrong.

\- Ran! I had told you to help you on the couch, not that you stretched like a fallen tree! She exclaimed in Conan, helping the girl to rejoin.

It took a little while, since Ran was not very receptive, but in the end she could sit in a relatively normal way. Actually, it seemed that the daughter of detective Mouri was not on that sofa, since her gaze was slightly lost.

\- Please forgive, Conan ... I'm very tired. There was a karaoke in the room where we had dinner and the Sonoko and the Masumi dragged me to sing for a while ... "he answered, with a soft voice.

\- So there was a karaoke ... This must have meant that you had a great time, right? She asked in Conan, as he passed a piece of cotton, loose in the Ran, to cleanse the blood of his nose.

\- Yeah ... Exactly, one could say yes, that we have gone through it ... "she said, not very convinced, passing the cotton swabs through the bleeding area.

Conan was not happy with that response. Ran was deceiving him, but why? Why should she lie to him about the party? What had happened in that karaoke? It was then that the little detective realized two key details: the first, the cheeks of his beloved. I had them red for a long time, and I did not look like it was a cause of tiredness or having crammed the pillows. The second was final, and when Conan noticed his surprise was capital.

\- _Eh? What is this smell? It sounds great to me No ... Do not tell me that ... But if it's true ... Ran ..._ -he thought, before addressing his friend- Listen, can I ask a question, if it's not a nuisance?

\- Hm? Of course. Say what do you want to know?

Conan stayed for a few seconds, looking directly at his loved one. His gaze was very serious, so much so that Ran was scared a little. In life, he had seen that child with that pose, his blue eyes penetrating into his. Conan took an air and uttered the words he feared so much:

\- Did you ... have you drunk at dinner?

The girl in brown hair remained with her mouth open. Conan's seriousness with that question exceeded her. I very much expected that he did not realize and could conceal his drunkenness, but it was clear that with that child it was impossible to hide things. At this point, explaining a lie would not help. So the only thing he did was close his eyes and smile.

\- You do not escape one ... You are a very observer boy, Conan.

\- A detective cannot escape any detail. Also, being all day between cases with your father helps me to develop my sense of observation. He answered, winking.

\- I can imagine ... Yes, I'm drunk. Not to the point of the high concentrated alcohol that sometimes my father takes, but I have drunk a lot. Ran said, before releasing a breath and smelling it herself. Yes, my breath made me smell of beer ... I'm sorry, Conan, it must be quite unpleasant for you.

\- But why did you get drunk? I thought that until the age of eighteen alcoholic beverages could not be taken ... - he asked Conan again, with a slightly tough face.

\- In theory we cannot, but a few guys have brought some beers hidden in clothes and we have all been encouraged. Even I ... Initially I did not want to, but the group pressure has been with me and I have been drinking the same as the others. I am sorry, Conan, I should have been more responsible. I'm sure I've been disappointed...

\- Tranquil, I understand what the group pressure is. I would not have gotten in so much trouble with the Junior Detective League if it were not for that. Replied the little detective, with a comforting smile.

\- No, Conan ... you do not understand ... - Ran said, standing up and walking slowly to the window, opening it ... Besides ... there is another reason for the which I wanted to get drunk tonight.

\- What? She questioned the child, innocently.

\- That idiot...

Glacier So he stayed in Conan after hearing those two words. Evidently, Ran was referring to him, in Shinichi Kudo. But it was the first time that he was insulted, because of many hardships and tasteless jokes for those who had passed. To finish it off, his voice sounded aggressive, but at the same time wounded, sore, sad with him.

\- Do you want to say ... in Shinichi ...?

\- Yes ... - she answered, with a deep sigh - almost a year ago I did not see him in person. When we can talk, it is only by phone or mobile messages, and they are almost always short conversations. It is busy all day with cases, cases and more cases. I'm worried about him, but it seems that he is not for me. Tonight, when they took the beers, I was already thinking about him and everything he was losing with us. Then Sonoko encouraged me to drink to forget about the subject of Shinichi, and that I had a good time with everyone. Masumi joined her and in the end the rest also, and so I ended up trying a beer. The thing has been encouraging and encouraging and I have ended up taking a few. It was then when the thing got twisted...

At that moment, tears began to fill their bluish eyes, while leaning their arms around the window frame. Conan looked at her sadly and pressed her fist with rage. He started to feel guilty for not being attentive to Ran as Shinichi in recent months.

\- What ... what happened? He asked in Conan, with an insecure voice.

\- After singing three songs in the karaoke, Shinichi's face has come to my head. I have tried to erase it with another beer, but it has been impossible because I find it too much to miss, and then ... I started crying like a little girl. I tried to contain it, but I ended up riding a scene because of that detective fan. The Sonoko and the Masumi wanted to contain me, but they did not succeed. In the end, the best thing she could do was go home and forget everything that happened. I have taken more of the account because I could not walk straight away, and when I arrived here, I was up against the stairs and you found me. This is the whole story.

Conan pressed both fists with frustration. He was furious But not with Sonoko, neither with Masumi, nor with any of his classmates who had encouraged the Ran to drink. No. He was angry with himself. With so much peace of mind that he had been in the last few weeks and had not had the decency to speak with her for a long time. Always with those so short calls, those messages that responded with just one or two words. So much relaxation had passed his bill and had stopped paying so much attention to the Ran as Shinichi. Ran was getting bored because of her fault, and now frustration was eaten inside her. His beloved, leaning against the window, dropped a few tears to the ground, as he sank his head between his arms because Conan did not feel her cry. But he knew perfectly well that he needed consolation, he needed a bit of encouragement, even if he was seven years old. The little detective approached little by little, without making any noise, and ran gently on Ran's bed. The girl was very surprised, since that attitude from Conan was unusual; she was not a very clingy child.

\- Conan...

\- Tranquil, Ran ... I know in Shinichi. Although I cannot talk to you, though I almost never mind you, even if you think you do not think about yourself ... believe me when I say this to you: he thinks a lot about you. I know it well enough to know that you are thinking right now about yourself. He worries about you, even if it does not look like it. It's a "I want, but I cannot", I do not know if I explain ... Surely the job keeps him busy and cannot contact you, no matter how much he wants. But in the background I know you are a very important person for him.

Ran had her eyes open as two oranges. The words of her little brother Conan were serious but sincere, trying to comfort her as if it were the authentic Shinichi. He spoke in his name, he spoke in the name of the boy who was so fond of him. He really thanked that child to have appeared in his life, because if he was not perhaps he would have suffered much more with the absence of Shinichi. The young Ran kneeled and, with her eyes full of tears and cheeks still lit by alcohol, she tightened the boy's glasses tightly, as if it were a teddy bear. Conan was nervous when he noticed Ran's breasts in his face, but he was let out by the warmth of his body and completed the hug gently stroking his back. Ran ran away and wept in tears alive for a few minutes, with her friend in her arms. The little detective was being contained, because to feel her cry because of her was painful. But his alter ego, in Conan Edogawa, was the only person who could help her to be honest with herself. After calmed down a bit, Ran slapped her hug and looked at the boy with tender, sincere eyes.

\- Thank you very much, Conan. You are the only comfort I have. Many times I think that you are my guardian angel, the person who cares most about me ... The only one who really appreciates me...

At that moment, his face changed drastically. The tenderness was erased, and what seemed like desire appeared, with its eyes showing a mysterious shine. His cheeks were even redder than before, let him know why, and his lips were slightly open. It was a fantasy, strange, perhaps even lewd image, an oath of what was about to happen. Ran grabbed the two little cheeks of the small detective gently, still smiling, while he did not understand what was happening. Then, time stopped, the Earth stopped turning and hell froze. Ran made a kiss in Conan ... on his lips. It was a simple kiss, normal, with no tongue or no frills, but he caught the boy with the down guard. His surprise was capital. That should have been the fault of the drunkard that dragged on, why could another teenager of seventeen years have a kiss to kiss a child of only seven? On the other hand, it was in shock because it was the first kiss of both. The only one who wished with all his might that he would have been in radically different circumstances.

Ran kept her lips in love with those of Conan for a long minute, which for the little one became eternal. The alcohol forum reached the detective for both the breath of the girl in her mouth and the nostrils, leaving it slightly yellow. When Kogoro Mouri's daughter finished kissing, the boy quickly separated and fell from ass to the ground. His face showed incredulity, surprise, and even fear. Look at Shinichi Kudo as a difficult person to scare, but that behavior was out of logic. The heart had accelerated, had the face more ignited than a volcano and breathed rapidly and nervously. It was a picture never seen in the little detective, an image that made the Ran change the chip. He was so scared, innocent and fragile that the girl returned to normal immediately. He immediately realized the serious mistake he had made. What the hell did he have gone through his head? How had you dared to break the innocence of the little Conan like that? All because of alcohol and the absence of Shinichi, that he was going crazy. His terrified eyes began to fill a new tear and quickly covered his mouth with his hands, astonished with what he had done. Ran also moved her body back slowly, until she leaned her head against the wall, trembling with fear. Alcohol and the absence of Shinichi, that she was going crazy. His terrified eyes began to fill a new tear and quickly covered his mouth with his hands, astonished with what she had done. Ran also moved her body back slowly, until she leaned her head against the wall, trembling with fear.

\- Oh my God ... Oh-I'm sorry, Conan ... I do not know ... -I do not know what happened to me ... I'm sorry, really, little Conan ... -I could vocalize, before to cry again

The shocked detective's surprise turned into seriousness seeing the reaction of his beloved. I did not really know what he was doing, alcohol had acted for her and caused that awkward nonsense. Now he saw her so broken inside, with her hands in her throat, her heart shuddering. He had to do something in order to calm her. The boy went back to his house and made small steps towards her, thinking of some way of comforting her.

\- Hey ... Ran ...

Suddenly, however, the Ran was covered with his arms, as if he did not want him to approach him. He was very surprised by that attitude, that kind of self-defense mechanism.

\- No, Conan ... You do not approach me ..., he said, with a thread of voice.

Ran was closing herself. He did not want to see his friend's face after he had finished doing it, he would not be able to stand the blame. In Conan, however, he wanted to insist on reassuring his loved one.

\- Ran, calm down, talk calmly ... - the boy in the glasses said.

\- No, let me alone ...!

\- Ran, listen to me, listen to me for a moment! Exclaimed the boy, trying to remove his arms from his face.

\- Well, Conan! Leave me alone!

And then, as if it were a reflex act, the Ran loosened her hand and nailed a terrible blow to Conan, who resonated throughout the detective agency Mouri. The boy fell with blow on the floor, while his partner could not believe what she had just done. He saw the face of his friend, with his mouth open, his left cheek with his marked hand, his eyes frightened, and what seemed like a tear falling from one of them. Could not be It was not her. It was not Ran Mouri who had just made a slap on Conan Edogawa. It was a soulless monster that neither knew.

\- No ... no, please ... - he said, with a trembling voice and looking at his hands- This is not me ... What have I done?

While Conan was trying to recover his breath after the slap, he saw how Ran ran in and crying disconsolately. The boy stood up and followed his friend as fast as he could to the toilet of the agency, where the girl closed locked to cry in tears alive. The small detective found the door locked in the spoils, and immediately he struck it with his fist trying to get the girl out of the sink.

\- Ran, please, open the door! We have to talk!

\- No, Conan! I cannot look back again after I've done it!

Conan continued to knock at the door, while Ran was crying like a cupcake and trembled with the images of events repeated over and over again in his mind.

\- _Shit! What can I do now?_ She thought of Shinichi, desperate, as she tapped the door again and again, wishing with all her soul that common sense would be a hole in Ran's throbbed thoughts.

\- Go, Ran, please, we have to talk!

\- I cannot, Conan! I cannot speak or see you, much less with what I've done to you!

Ran was out of it. She could not conceive that she had kissed the lips of a child of seven years, tender and innocent. She blamed the drunkard she had taken with his companions to forget about Shinichi, and now she felt disgusting of herself. In Conan, on the other hand, he still hurt his cheek after the sting that his friend had given him, scared for his actions. It was clear that all that was a very serious problem.

\- The mother who enrolled me ... How can I get it right? I understand that she does not want to look at Conan in his face, surely imagining him traumatized and trembling with fear ... But how can I tell him that this is not the case? What in Conan Edogawa wants to talk to her instead of avoiding her?

Shinichi thought and thought, but he did not find the way to calm the girl she loved so much. She could only feel her crying disconsolately, she was more touched than the child who had received the kiss. I felt sorry for her. The absence of Shinichi Kudo had taken him to the absolute penalty, to mourn for the nights, suspecting his name and reaching the point of that night, when he was drunk and kissed in the mouth a child nailed to he Just a moment...

\- Wait, maybe that's it! And what would you have seen if not in Conan, but in Shinichi? Before kissing me, his face changed completely and said that he was the only one who really appreciated it ... No ... That has been told to Conan Edogawa, as well as being his only consolation ... Hitch! Why have things been complicated so much?

At that precise moment, he began to feel a little noise approaching the agency. They were passes. Conan's blood was frozen. He had to be in Kogoro, who had probably finished talking on the phone with Inspector Megure. Immediately, the little detective intensified the blows at the sink door, trying to warn Ran about what was about to fall on them.

\- Ran, listen to me! You have to stop crying! Please, please, let talk, ojisan is coming here!

\- I cannot! I cannot calm myself, that you do not realize what I just did ?! I'm a monster! She cried, without stopping crying.

\- Ran, enough to cry, you have to react! Do not you see if your father discovers what has happened the consequences will be catastrophic?! God know what you will be able to do!

It took him a few seconds to assimilate the information, but the girl understood the seriousness of the approaching situation. Although sometimes Kogoro Mouri was an unhealthy person, especially when he was terrified, he had a terrible mood when he got mad. From a small age, a few broncos of fear had fallen, but what he had done with Conan could not be compared to any mischief of a child. His reaction could be terrible, and not only because he had reached the drunk house being a minor, but by taking advantage of that seven-year-old child they were taking care of. Fear seized his soul, but his friend with huge glasses had other plans.

\- Ran, listen to me! All you have to do is keep up with me and everything is going well, you know? Trust me, please! Said the Conan, very angry at the sink door.

Ran could not believe what he was feeling. In Conan asking him to trust him? After frightening him that way? Surely the alcohol was already causing even hallucinations, because that did not even have a point of logic. Why should he defend her, he? The most logical thing would be to try to move away and discuss it in front of his father. But for some reason I did not want to do it. I was so afraid that Kogoro Mouri would discover what had happened? Anyway, she did not want her father to realize she had got drunk, so she made his heart strong and accessed Conan's request. It was hard for her to contain her tears and now, above all, she was singing. Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, the Great Detective of the East listened to the steps approaching more and more. I was tense, a cold sweat crossed his back slowly. The uncontrolled weeping of the Ran was no longer heard, but would it be enough to put an end to the famous Kogoro sleep? Finally, after some eternal seconds, the detective appeared at the bottom of the corridor, with the face of few friends. He wore his jacket and dark trousers accompanied by a white shirt, as if he were ready to leave. Perhaps the call from inspector Megure was to summon him to a last minute meeting. The man saw Conan at the bottom of the corridor, glued to the sink door. The shrinking teenager was uncomfortable, what will Kogoro tell you? Would if have heard a word of what he had said with Ran? His doubts vanished when he had two sides of his face, looking at him seriously, and immediately followed him a callout.

\- Oh, how bad! She exclaimed in Conan, with her childish voice.

\- It will be possible! What is this rumble supposed to be ?! You can scream from the floor above and I cannot even talk to the inspector Megure! What's happening here ?! Asked Kogoro, angry.

Suddenly, little weeping came from inside the sink. Conan thought he had escaped his friend, and they had drunk oil so that all the truth could come to light.

\- Ran? -He made the detective, knocking on the door. You look good, daughter?

Before the girl responded, her friend came up with the excuse that he had thought for the occasion.

Yes, b-well, not much ... You've got home with a stomachache, and it has been closed to the toilet at once.

E-in Conan you are right, father ... "Ran answered, with a weak voice, from inside the cabin." I must have put something wrong that I ate at dinner ... Oh. ..

Ran could be felt panting and breathing hard, while pretending arches. It was such a masterly interpretation that Kogoro really worried.

\- In the daughter, do you really feel well? Do you want me to take you to the hospital? He asked, trembling.

\- No, no, no! Quiet! In Conan I already took the medicine kit with a medicine we have for when that happens. Do you remember the last time, what touched you?

\- It's true ... "he murmured, making a memory. Anyway, a doctor's visit would not go wrong ...

\- I'll be there tomorrow, father. Going urgently at this time would be to waste time if I know it is not serious. Ran explained.

\- Also, you do not have to worry, Uncle Kogoro. I will stay here to take care of you while you are away. Said the little one in the house, with his arms upstairs.

\- Hmm ... It's fine. I'll leave you in charge of you. I trust in you, Co ... A moment! The private detective shouted, strangely. How do you know I have to leave? Are you guessing or what?

\- I've seen him talk with the Megure inspector on the phone, surely he has asked for help for a case or something similar. Also, why should I wear street clothes at home when it's almost midnight? - theorized the boy, with a tendentious smile and superiority.

Kogoro grew mad with rage. I did not understand how that dwarf could have been so perspicacious on some occasions.

\- Every day I am more surprised, I'm getting mad. Yes, I go to the central police station. I'll be back in a couple of hours. When the Ran is better, you put both in bed, you understand?

\- If! -An the two "children" of the house, at the same time.

Kogoro nodded and marched toward the Central Police station of the Metropolitan Police in Tokyo, while in Conan he saw him move away. When he heard the door of the agency close, he sat on the floor and breathed relief. He had gone very well to him, to him as to Ran. If he had discovered what had happened in that space, the consequences could have been devastating. At that moment, with Conan internally celebrating that they had fired at Kogoro, the door of the sink was opened. Behind her, Ran saw herself with a serious pose, red eyes with tears and slightly splayed hair. It was an almost ghostly image, even sinister. Conan suddenly rose from scare, But he stayed for a long time looking at those glossy eyes that so many tears had shed for his fault. The anguish once again filled his body, they had to clarify what the hell had happened ten minutes ago, but neither dared to open his mouth. They kept looking in their eyes for a long time, revising each aspect of their face. Conan still had the mark of the Ran's hand on the left cheek, and the right one also had her slightly red of nerves. The pain was no longer noticeable, but inside there was a very bad mood. Could you solve the conflict that had arisen that night? Finally, after a long uncomfortable silence, the Ran broke the ice. To clarify what the demons had happened ten minutes ago, but neither dared to open his mouth. They kept looking in their eyes for a long time, revising each aspect of their face.

Because...? Why did you help me ...?

The girl kneeling down to be at the same height as her companion, but her serious face did not seem to erase. Conan swallowed saliva while preparing an answer.

Just wait. She interrupted her, shaking her hand in front of her face. Are you aware of what has happened before? Do you understand what I've done to you, Conan? I've used you, I've used you to forget about Shinichi and all the evil that has done me. I kissed you in the mouth without your consent and then, on top of it, I gave you a slap. Do you realize what this means? I am a horrible person ... I am a pedophile and an abuser. Nobody could forgive me, leave me alone . What I have done is abuse of minors, neither my mother could defend me in a judgment in conditions. She would end up in prison, or in any case, in a minors reformatory until he turned eighteen ... And above all, it's that I took advantage of you, Conan. That your parents had left us in charge of you, who trusted me like no other person ... What ... what ...

At that moment, the Ran was undone. He grabbed her chest with both hands and cried bitterly. They were painful tears, he had a bad heart after that very slow speech for her. Conan looked at her with sorrow. He had never seen his beloved so sunk, it was such a depressing image ... They wanted to cry, to drop the wall of seriousness that was built around him and to let go of his emotions as the child he was. He made a couple of steps, approaching Ran, but when he realized this, he broke out of rage.

\- Well, Conan! Did not you understand anything I said ?! I'm a monster! I do not deserve you to come to me or forgive me! I do not want to do any more damage than I've already done to you ...!

Conan ignored his words and, in a surprising act, responded to that speech with a kiss on his lips. It was a short, simple, clean and pure kiss, only the lips of both coming into contact in the sweetest and most innocent way in the world. Ran could not even believe it. What demons had you done in Conan? What was that feeling of calm, from his demons disappearing in contact with the lips of that seven-year-old boy? Was that possible? What was happening? His surprise was capital. A few seconds later, Conan took a step back and separated his lips from the Ran. Then, with the cuddly head, he did something that he did not usually do in front of anyone, and that he never before had dared to do before her. He started crying. Tears began to fall from their sapphire blue eyes and it did not seem that there was any force capable of stopping them. His friend was in a state of shock. I've never seen life in Conan crying. He had seen her cry many times, without going any further that same night, but she had never seen him with her weeping eyes. The little one was being honest with those tears. Those stinging words of his beloved were what he needed to free all the accumulated tension. I wanted to help her, and I already knew how to do it. It would not be in Shinichi, but in Conan who would make him see things as he was alone.

\- Because...? Why do you avoid me, Ran ...? Why do you forget me, if I did not do anything wrong? Why do you say such bad things about you? Why do you say you do not deserve my forgiveness? Ran, if you were wrong in something, I will always accept your apologies, whatever it may be. Why should not you forgive me, why? Besides, I do not want to be far from you ... If you were not on my side ... I would be very depressed.

Then, the boy showed his face to the Ran, full of tears falling down the sides of his cheeks. The reaction of the girl was surprising, putting a hand to her mouth. That sad face put the heart in reverse. Those words that were so obscure they had cast on the feelings of the little boy, who could not now contain them.

\- I do not want you to go, not to move away from me or to avoid me ... You hosted me in your home when I did not have a home where to go, you have taken care of me since then with the same I love my mother, and you have saved my life on more than one occasion when no one would have moved a finger for me ... I will always forgive you because ... because I ... I ...

Tears prevented him from continuing, as well as the nerves he was about to say. He grabbed air, he let it go slowly and then ...

\- ... because I love you, Ran!

And without thinking twice, Conan threw himself on the Ran with a strong hug. I did not want to let go of any of the ways. He had taken it as if it were a tick and he had no intention of getting rid of it. His words were sincere, authentically true. He loved him with all his soul, it was the same if it were Shinichi Kudo or Conan Edogawa, Both love Ran Mouri equally, without differences. And if she wanted to move away from him, both would suffer the same pain. They were just two poles that drank, regardless of the circumstances.

Ran had been petrified after hearing the child's words and then hugged him. That statement completely broke its schematics and everything that had happened that night. Conan loved him, despite the alcoholic kiss. He loved it, despite the slap. He loved it, despite telling him that he would move away from him and take advantage of his innocence child. That child loved her with all his heart, it was just as well as he lost his head for Shinichi. He was always at her side to cheer her up, whatever he was. In the end, Ran ran into a sea of tears. He surrounded the little detective with his arms and he still fought him more than before in her chest, screaming to get rid of all the bitterness.

\- Forgive me, Conan! Forgive me, really! I am an idiot, a complete idiot! How did you find yourself traumatizing this way ?! I'm sorry, petty, I love you too, I love you so much, Conan!

And they both held in that hug for five eternal minutes. Feeling the warmth of both bodies, calming the fear and nerves that had passed. From a strong hug and full of feeling, little by little he went to a sweet and tender embrace. Only if he knew the Ran whom he was embracing actually, he would die of shame. But that at that very moment did not matter. That embrace was a sign of perfect unconditional love between Conan and Ran.

A few hours later, early in the morning and with Kogoro sleeping like a trunk, Conan got up to drink water in the kitchen. While taking a chair to reach the sink, his boss still turned around with what had happened to the girl he coexisted with.

what madness tonight with the Ran ... I know that I have been a bad friend for not being attentive to her in the last few weeks, but that getting drunk and dying with Conan has been an horrible. How lucky I was able to straighten the course. I really was scared when she said she wanted to move away from me ... I had to channel my inner child and cry like I never cried. I think it was even the first time that she saw Conan like this. Well, maybe I was too excited about that ...

The boy in the glasses referred to the moment he confessed his feelings, when he told Ran with all the sincerity of the world he loved. The cheeks just turned on to think about it. But immediately a melancholy smile filled his face.

\- Bah, so much. I have been able to return to normal and make it happy with those words, which in the end is what matters. He thought in a low voice, before drinking a glass of water.

After drinking, the little detective left the chair in his place and went to his room. Halfway, however, a thread interrupted him.

\- Conan...

The boy turned instantly on hearing his name, looking across the corridor. Immediately, he saw that the sound came from Ran's door, with the Ran looking at him for a slit and gesturing to get in. The boy went there with tips, be careful not to wake up at Kogoro, that out of the anesthetizing watch, he had a very shallow sound. Conan opened the door and saw that Ran was seated in her bed, and pointed with her hand to sit next to her. The little one nodded without any problem.

\- Forgive I was giving you so late, but I wanted to talk to you. Ran started, with a smile.

\- Ran, if you want to apologize for what happened tonight, no longer. I forgive you and I understand that alcohol has more of a blame than you. Replied Conan, spitting his eye to calm her.

\- Thanks, Conan. You are a sun ... But I wanted to speak another thing. She said, with a more serious pose.

\- Eh? What do you mean?

\- To see how I tell you ... When did you tell me that you loved me, or did you tell me seriously, with all the sincerity of the world? Or was it to "calm me"? N-I do not know if I'm explaining ... -he asked, with the cheeks slightly red.

Conan's captain almost broke out like a volcano in listening to that question. To what hell did that come from, now? Why did i want to know Had I discovered something beyond what I was playing?

\- C-cla-clear yes, Ran ... Why should I lie to you? I love you a lot, a lot ... "he replied, joining the tips of his fingers.

Kogoro's daughter laughed amicably. The sound of her voice was angelic, a laugh so beautiful that she rejoiced at Conan inside.

\- Is that why you avoid Ayumi and Ai? She asked, by surprise.

\- Q-what ?! No! That never! I do not avoid them, we're just friends ...! The detective insisted, increasingly nervous and with a pretty red face.

\- Come on, come on, do not be shameful, that he did to me in these things, you both love both of you, Conan. She ran, laughing melodiously.

\- I ... I ... -in Conan no longer knew what to answer.

\- I love you the same, Conan, but you have to remember that I am waiting for Shinichi ... - she confessed, looking at the ceiling of her room.

\- Ran ... - the little detective sighed, looking at him with a lightweight face.

At that time, there was a long silence in which both looked at the eyes with two different faces. Ran, with a delicate and sweet smile. In Conan, with his mouth slightly open of surprise.

\- I ... I cannot possibly hear for you what you feel about Shinichi, or even what he feels for you ... But I love you in every way in every way. - the boy shrugged, noticing his beloved, but at the same time thinking - It is more difficult than it seems to say what a seven year old would think in a situation like this ...

\- Why do you think you do not love me like Shinichi? Maybe because I'm ten years older than you? Ran asked.

\- Well ... eh ...

\- Conan, in love, age has no limits. She continued. There are a lot of wonderful people in this world who love each other, take one, four or twenty years. Although you are seven years old, I can see in your eyes that you love me so much or maybe more than in Shinichi. Not in vain, you have saved my life on more than one occasion, as the time you received the murder of that serial killer in Naniwa instead of me ... I will always be grateful for what you did , even if it was an excessive risk. Someone who does not love me above himself would not risk his life for me ... That's why I believe that you love me beyond what a normal seven-year-old boy can feel for his first love ...

\- Co-how do you know, what are you my first love? Asked the boy, all rooted.

\- Because you have just said me. Replied the Ran, laughing kindly. It's a joke. I see it in your eyes. You always see me with a lot of admiration, and you protect me from both criminals and bullies.

Conan laughed nervously after those words. The girl had climbed it to perfection, I knew it was difficult to disguise. He had set himself in the midst of so many parasites that they tried to tie up with his beloved Ran that even she had realized how important it was for him.

\- Well, I do it because there are very heavy parents, and I do not want them to bother you ... - the little man said, with a thread of voice.

\- I already see ... In this case, I have a proposal. Let's see what you think ... "Ran commented, before taking an air and creating a tense and expectable atmosphere, Conan, do you want me to be your secret girlfriend?

\- What?! Exclaimed the miniature detective, faced with seeing a ghost.

\- great, what face you have put! - replied the Ran, without holding the laugh. It's easy: you and I will be a little girl, but we will keep it secret. We can do all the things that today's couples do: to go to the movies, to take something in a cafe, a "romantic" walk ... I can avoid the cursed bumbling with the excuse that I am leaving with someone , and you will have the great luck that your first love has corresponded to you, that not every time it happens.

Conan was left with two nose panels listening to Ran's explanation about being a secret partner. That last phrase was the one that made him understand the proposal definitively.

\- Now I understand everything ... I have seen it on some television series. He does it to please me as a child that I am. I think so I can be happier than ever because my first love also loves me ... We are losing, how has the situation changed. She thought of Shinichi, with his smile of disbelief. Ran, if you knew who I am sure I would re-think it, I have ...

\- Now, there are three conditions that you have to fulfill, you understand?

\- If! She nodded in Conan.

\- Really good. First of all, this must be a secret among us. No one else should know, neither my father, nor Sonoko, nor Masumi nor the League of Junior Detective, okay? Secondly, you can be honest with me, I will be with you. If I have any problem or anything happens to me, I'll explain it to you, do not hesitate. That is why I do not want you to hear anything, you know you can trust me if something happens at school or with your friends ... And do not be afraid to tell me, for example, if at the end you like the Ayumi or the Ai and you would like to be the boyfriend of one of them, I will understand it perfectly. Kogoro's daughter explained, with a comforting smile.

\- Split, Ran, I trust you for anything. She answered in Conan, smiling from ear to ear.

\- Perfect. And the third condition ... I hope you understand it. It's no longer a secret for you that I am waiting for in Shinichi ... I know that sooner or later it he will return and will stop being busy with so many cases and mysteries ... So when he returns ...

\- ... I want you to be again your usual, your little "brother". I'm wrong Asked the detective, looking directly at her eyes.

\- Hm ... Once again you have succeeded. Never change, Conan. I hope that you are still as smart and clever as you are today. -The girl finished, hugging the boy and stretching it to bed, his head in the eyes of the Ran- So what do you say? Will you live with me?

\- Ss-yes ... -he made the boy, with his face slightly red. And then said" Ran-neechan ,please do not do anything reckless like yesterday or I have to leave to find Shinichi-niichan so you can kick him. I cannot see you depress so can you promise not do anything like this please"

With shock and surprising look Ran relied" I promise Conan I will not anything like before but promise me you will not leave me ".

" of course , I will not leave you unless you want me to." Conan replied.

Then, in Conan, he was thoughtful for a moment, looking at the angelic smile of his new "girlfriend," and leaned forward to try to kiss Ran. This one, however, moved forward and made him a very sweet cheek, very close to the curb of the lips.

\- I have to admit that being a child of seven years you know how to kiss your lips. But you have already seen how annoying we could have gotten, so nothing about kissing mouths until you're bigger. This is the closest to where I can do. Said the seventeen-year-old girl, before yawning- We should put ourselves to sleep now. Good night, Conan. I love you very much, petty.

Conan was pretty sure that he had cheered up but even with this she was depressed. But she was sure that she could not show Conan her this situation making him worried. Next some days she showed she was fine but she was depressed.

Few days later -

At night, Ran leaned her face against the cold window and sighed. When would I see Shinichi again?

Sometimes I thought that what had happened in London had been a lie, a dream. Your promise on Golden week day seem to be a lie. I did not know what to do about it. Should I call him and clarify his feelings?

Sometimes I thought that his answer must have been too obvious and my answer was nothing for him.

The only thing she knew was that she was tired of having to think about someone who always left her in the background, without explanations. I loved him, yes, with all her heart but I also wanted him to be able to show his feelings; that he would finally embrace her and not leave her again.

She wished with all her heart to be able to walk back to school at his side, talking about unimportant things. For God's sake, She would give anything to have Holmes's maniac by his side, telling him about some of his research.

She grabbed her cell phone thoughtfully. What am I supposed to do?

She thought that before anything else she should be sincere, if she did not give things a lot of thought, maybe her life would be easier.

Looking out the window of his room, all Shinichi could see was black. The air was humid and cold, the night was still, and everything was dead quiet; not that he would've known. Shinichi was perfectly comfortable indoors, wrapped up in his blanket inside the heat-furnished Mouri Detective Agency. He was still there, living his life as Conan; and he was anything but asleep.

He had given up on sleeping at least an hour before, and for a while he was reading his dad's new installment to the Night Baron book series. He enjoyed it, and it was effectively getting his mind off certain things that he didn't want to think about; however, he was only using the light of his flashlight watch that Dr. Agasa had given him, and all other lights were off. It was annoyingly painful on his eyes, and when he began to get a headache, it was a blaring signal to him that he definitely needed a break. He was considering going downstairs to the kitchen to make himself a cup of hot chocolate, thinking that it might make him feel better. His watch read 3:45am; he figured he could easily go downstairs, make his hot chocolate, and come back up to his room without waking anyone up. After all, they would be asleep for several more hours, and it would give him something to do other than killing his eyes reading.

He got up out of bed and stretched, feeling like he hadn't moved in years, and then headed out of his room, being very quiet. He then noticed that the light was on in the living room; apparently someone had woken up and gone downstairs without him noticing. He proceeded down the steps to find out who it was, finding it very strange that he couldn't remember hearing any footsteps at all that morning. He assumed that he was probably reading at the time, not paying attention.

"Ran-neechan?" he asked, seeing her sitting on the couch in a daze. She looked over to Conan, a little surprised.

"Hey, Conan, I didn't know you were up," she said. "It's really early. What are you doing?"

Conan shrugged. "Not sleeping," he replied. He took a seat next to her on the couch, noticing something in her hands. "And what are those?" he asked.

Ran looked down at the little papers in her hand. "Oh these? Just invitations to my birthday party next month…" she replied. "I'm going to hand them out when I go back to school Monday. Heiji and Kazuha are invited too, of course. I already mailed theirs to them a couple days ago." She smiled and held them so Conan could get a better look.

"Wow! I didn't know that your birthday was coming up so soon, Ran-neechan!" Conan said excitedly. It was a boldfaced lie; of course he had known. It was the main reason he had been so eager for a cure lately. He had never missed any of Ran's birthdays as long as he had known her, and the thought of having to miss one because of his stupid predicament sickened him.

"Really?" she asked. "I guess I didn't tell you."

Conan shook his head. "Uh-uh," he replied. His attention was drawn to the invitations when Ran began to flip through them. There was Sonoko of course, and a few other names he recognized, but he couldn't help but notice that her eyes lingered on one invitation in particular – and he wasn't surprised when he saw whose it was.

"You really want him to come, huh?" he asked. "Shinichi, I mean." It was a rather obvious question to which Conan already knew the answer, but he didn't really care.

"Well, of course!" she replied with a smile.

"I bet he will," Conan said.

Ran giggled. "Maybe…" she said. "With his big case going on, I wouldn't be surprised if he forgot about my birthday all together…"

Conan shook his head. "I doubt it," he said.

"Well, we're talking about someone who forgets his own birthday…" she reminded him, laughing a bit.

He couldn't help but chuckle a bit too. "Yeah that's true, I suppose…but trust me, he remembers," Conan replied confidently.

"You should hear yourself," Ran replied, giggling again. "You sound like you think you know more about him than I do…"

Conan scratched his head and chuckled nervously. Well, I would certainly hope so… he thought. There was silence between them, and for a moment, Conan thought he heard crickets chirping.

"Well… one thing still kind of bothers me," Ran thought aloud.

Conan looked curious. "What is it, Ran-neechan?" he asked.

"Well, it's just that whenever he calls…something about the way he talks just makes it seem like he's never even left at all," she said. "He always knows so much about what's going on in my life, even though I barely know anything about what's going on with him anymore. And when I ask him about how he knows, he always seems to come up with some off-the-wall explanation… yet it always makes sense, so it's not like I can question it..."

Conan scratched his head, unsure of the right thing to say. "Well, I mean… I tell him a lot of things," he informed her. "About you and what's going on here. He's always asking me, because… uh… well, he's worried about you and um… he doesn't want to annoy you with silly questions about your life all the time and seem …nosy." He let out a little nervous giggle, hoping she wouldn't notice how suspicious and not true that had actually sounded.

Ran yawned. "'Doesn't want to annoy me' …yeah, right," she muttered with obvious sarcasm in her voice. "He's out there solving murders and complex cases, facing dangerous criminals, yet he's afraid to show that he's worried about someone he's known since he could barely walk." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Typical."

The 'little boy' laughed a little, and decided that now would be a good time for a subject change. "Anyways… Ran-neechan, you look really tired…maybe you should go back to bed," Conan suggested. "It's still really early."

She nodded, slowly getting up. "Sleep sounds good about now," Ran replied. "And you know, maybe you should get some sleep, too. It's not healthy for little boys like you to stay up so late and wake up so early. Don't try to fool me; I know you were up late reading last night."

He giggled innocently, scratching his head again. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. Looks like she's not a bad detective herself, he noted. His eyes wandered over to the stack of invitations again, seeing that his own had been put on top. "Oh, before you go Ran-neechan, there is something I wanted to ask you," he said.

Ran got up and stretched, realizing how tired she really was. It seemed that neither of them got the sleep they needed. "What is it, Conan?" she asked.

He grabbed his invitation from the pile and held it up to her. "Why did you make Shinichi an invitation even though you knew you wouldn't be able to give it to him personally?" he asked. "It's sort of a waste of paper, wouldn't you say?"

She took the invitation from Conan's hand and giggled a bit. "How observant of you," she remarked. "I don't know really…I guess part of me was hoping that I'd be able to give it to him, that's all. But I suppose I'll have to call him instead. Sonoko's been bugging me about that, so maybe if I do it today, she'll finally get off my case." She put the invitation with the others where it belonged and found her way to the stairs. "Coming?" she asked, looking back at Conan with a smile.

He nodded to Ran and after switching off the light, he made his way to her and followed her up the stairs to their rooms. Conan didn't even realize that he never did get his hot chocolate. They parted, Ran going to her own room and Conan going into his.

"All right, well, get some sleep Conan," she told him. "Good night."

"'You too Ran-neechan," he replied. "Night!"

Without much reason, she decided to write to him, no matter what time it was. I had no idea if wherever Shinichi was, it was already daylight, so she did not care.

 _Shinichi:_

 _How are you?_

 _I know we talked this afternoon about the case in which dad was involved but ..._

 _I've been thinking a lot, about what happened in London and Kyoto. Sonoko does not stop reminding me, you know? I suppose you can imagine it ..._

 _I was wondering if one day I'll be able to see you again. I feel we must clarify certain things that cannot be said except in person._

 _I hope that one day you can get to tell me what the hell you got this time and you can go back home and stay again. A few days by your side is more than enough._

 _I promise not to attack you, nor to kill you the first time I see you, just come back. Please?_

 _I'm sorry if this may seem weird and selfish but the truth is that I miss you. I would not like to bother you, just that you know how I feel. I know I promised that I would always wait for you (and I swear I will), but a little of your company would not do me any harm._

 _Do you think you could go back even if it's for my birthday?_

 _Ran._

"Message sent"

She did not want to read the message again, in case she regretted it.

She just hoped she had not bothered Shinichi in any way, but she felt that if she did not express his feelings in some way, maybe he would take a thousand years to return and she would explode.

I needed some more certain demonstration of the affection I could have for her. (Although he also admitted that he had already missed several opportunities to do the same with him)

... ...

On the other side of the room, Conan could not sleep. It went round and round.

They were getting closer and closer to discovering the hiding place of the organization of the Men in Black. Without only Haibara will hurry in their investigations.

He wanted nothing more than to recover his body again. He was already getting tired of continuing to pretend and felt he was losing in his battle to hide the truth from Ran.

Sometimes he was so frustrated that he left too much evidence, as he had with Subaru a few weeks ago. I expected to have done the right thing by discarding that he belonged to the organization because otherwise it would be dust.

As he continued to stir in his thoughts he felt his cell phone vibrate under his pillow.

A message. From Ran.

How strange, so late. Was she feeling bad, that she was still awake? She thought she was down when she saw her go to bed.

He promised himself that he would go check it out as soon as he saw what he wanted.

He felt his heart clench; an immense sadness flooded his soul

Ran ...

An immense sadness flooded his soul.

For Ran to have written to him with such desperation, it meant that he was not doing well at all.

In all the opportunities that she had managed to get back to her adolescent body, the least she had done was give herself the time to be her.

How would you like to be able to give some explanations ...

He was an idiot, but if he were so obsessed with the mysteries and he would not have left the night of dinner maybe everything would have been different; Maybe Ran was not so sad now.

Rays, if I could just make sure he would not be in danger.

Although there was also the possibility that he himself was in danger of death if she was aware of the amount of things he had done together (he taking advantage of his size as a child). If he had even seen her naked, not once, twice ...

Yes, she would surely kill him for that.

He felt he was wasting his youth with so many worries. He should have been like any other teenager with time to have fun and go on dates with Ran, with no murder to solve that might interrupt them. I also knew that she, in waiting for him, was losing her chance to be happy with someone who did not really make her suffer.

However, he would never let Dr. Araide or anyone come near her, that's ever.

He read the message again, thinking what would be the best answer he should give it.

He could not help it and smiled, that fool ...

Surely (as Sonoko always said), he was thinking that, by not answering her in London, he would not have realized his feelings.

As if it had been possible for a detective like him.

It was true that sometimes Ran managed to surprise him, and that sometimes he was too slow in love affairs, but he was not stupid and could notice (thanks to his gestures and blushes) what she felt for him. The answer he got in Kyoto. Otherwise, she would not be waiting for him so blindly.

He slipped out of the room he shared with his "uncle" Kogoro and went silently to Ran's room and slowly opened the door to take a look.

He saw her sitting, leaning against the window, looking sadly at the outside. A few lonely tears ran down his face. He still had his cell phone hanging from his remote.

It was decided. She knew it was not the best answer, but within all possibilities, she felt that she had to show him something of her affection, that she loved her with all her heart.

He blushed at the thought while still observed, who would say that the famous East detective was so hopelessly in love ...

Surely Hattori would laugh at him.

She was so beautiful, with her long brown hair to the waist, her beautiful blue eyes and her way of being ... it was what most captivated Shinichi.

As much as she sometimes behaved like a fool, screaming and whining, Ran was a kind, sensitive, shy, understanding person, who despite everything always managed to understand it. He had never left her side or forgotten him and never lost patience with him. When they were together, they complemented each other, she always made him see the good side of things.

If only he had not abandoned her that night in the tropical Park ...

Feeling cheered, he tapped the door softly... ..

\- Oh no ... Ran nee-chan, are you okay?

She was startled and she cringed at the gesture

\- Sorry, I did not want to scare you. It's just that I saw you in the kitchen. Why are you so sad nee-chan? - It was an idiotic question, I knew it - It's all Shinichi's fault nee-chan, right?

Another tear fell, but she could feel her forcing a smile for him.

\- Do not apologize, Conan-kun. Maybe I should wake you up with the light on at this time. Do not worry, I'm fine. You can go to sleep in peace. "He looked down at the floor. I was just remembering him, and thinking, just that ...

Conan fixed his gaze on her, surely he was still waiting for her answer and until he did not have her he would not rest calmly. Without hesitation he went into her room and gently closed the door before heading towards her.

From his diminutive height, he reached out and stroked his wet cheek as best he could.

\- Well, you do not look like me, Ran nee-chan - looked her in the eyes - What can I do to help you?

If you want, I can call Shinichi and tell him that he's a complete fool for leaving you like this - he smiled at her, trying to cheer him up, seeing that he was beginning to deny. Or you could download with him. What do you say? We could call him and ...

Conan opened his eyes wide, feigning surprise. I had something in mind.

\- I know. Ran nee-chan, I have a great idea. What would happen if you had the possibility of having it in front of you? What would you say?

Ran was surprised for a moment by the questions.

What would you say? Even though she had been practically begging him in the message to return, she had so many contained emotions that she was not sure what her first words would be.

But why was Conan asking her that? Was she missing something?

Without thinking too much, she grabbed in her arms the one she considered his guardian angel and sat him on her lap.

He blushed.

\- Well, I do not know Conan-kun. At first when he left, I just thought that what I most wanted was to beat him up for leaving me without reason, but now I do not believe it - she smiled when she saw Conan looking through his glasses, she could only remember Shinichi with so much similar -. Not that it does not deserve it, but I think he did not trust me ... - He looked down -. I would only like him to trust me to help him in whatever he is involved with, sometimes it scares me to think he is sick, or hurt in some way, and my heart shrinks at the thought of it. Also every time I see him, he looks so weak that I think maybe he's really sick and does not want to tell me. I'd settle for just seeing it and knowing it's fine.

She hugged Conan and he could only surround him tightly with his little arms around his neck. he tried to hold back but one or two faint tears also fell through his eyes.

When he could compose himself, he parted a little and made sure that he was paying attention before putting his hands around Ran's face and saying:

\- Ran nee-chan, listen to me. You do not have to ask about Shinichi's health, okay? - She stared at him with such seriousness on the part of the child -. I can assure you that he is not sick or injured - (look at me, I thought, I am here, in front of you) -. I ... there are things I know about him that I cannot tell you, yet. He made me promise, but the only reason for that is because he just wants to protect you - he stopped a bit on how to proceed.

"I guess I can only tell you some things ... but you have to promise me that this will be between us, okay?" When she looked at him, she replied, "Ran-neechan, do you hear me? You have to promise me that what I tell you now is not You will absolutely tell anyone, not Sonoko, your father, anyone, maybe Shinichi will kill me if he finds out, but I'm sure it's for the best "

At last Ran could find his voice and without much consideration, he lowered the child to the ground and glared at him as he began to wander around the room.

\- What do you mean by all this Conan? Do you know how and where is Shinichi? All this time you've known things about him and you did not tell me? Why? Why did you have to hide things from me, Conan-kun? You among all the people ... I always knew that something hide from me.

He managed to sit on the edge of his bed and without more began to cry uncontrollably covering his face with his hands.

Shinichi could not contain her anguish either, the least she had wanted was to make her cry. But he had to stay firm in his decision, the most important thing was her safety.

He faced her and with a little strength cleared his face.

\- Ran nee-chan, I'm sorry I did not want to make you cry. I'm sorry, I spoil everything. I just thought that if I told you some things, you would cheer up.

She finally lifted her eyes and could see sadness in Conan's eyes too.

\- So you promise to tell me everything you know about Shinichi? Only that would make me feel better, you know? And in that way I would forget all this matter

Shinichi squeezed his heart and raised his hands.

\- I'll tell you everything I think is convenient so as not to put you in danger. Ran, I'm sorry. Neither Shinichi nor I want to expose you, I'm sorry. But if you agree, I will tell you not to worry about him either, nor about his feelings towards you - she blushed as she did, but none of them looked away -. Even though I'm just a child, I can notice that he ... He ... Shinichi loves you, Ran nee-chan, more than you think.

He took his time before continuing, more red than a tomato.

\- Although you may not believe it, he told me that his confessions are true from deepest part of his heart. Only sometimes it's silly and slow with these questions, do not you think? He saw that a shy smile appeared. Also, I think that somehow, he always knows what you feel for him.

Now Ran's face seemed ready to explode.

How is it that Conan claimed that Shinichi knew how always she felt about him? Was it so obvious?

Yes, I sure was.

But if he had known that he knew her feelings, in spite of not having expressed them in person, he would have saved himself several problems.

Until I did not see that maniac coward personally, they would not stay calm.

No sir, I would not let the situation go that easy.

But there were also the things that Conan-kun knew about Shinichi that she did not. Even though the boy claimed that Shinichi was not in danger, what was the problem if she knew what he had gotten into?

He sighed and grabbed Conan to sit next to him on the bed. He had been watching her intently for a reaction.

But he just looked at him, he had made a decision.

\- Conan-kun. I think that in spite of everything you know about this mess ... I would prefer sentimental issues to leave them aside, understand? - He blushed -. You're just a kid and I know you're smarter than the others but ... - He lowered his eyes a little -. These questions I would like to discuss in person with Shinichi, okay? I also feel that this must also be very embarrassing for you, is not it? - He could see that Conan was actually blushing again. So let's get this thing fixed with that maniac coward.

Cowardly maniac? I guess it was the least he deserved ... he deserve that.

"deserve that , what do you mean" asked Ran.

"ah , I mean to say that night when he left you in the restaurant , do you know why he took you there, he was too shy to utter his words"

"When he left , I was upset so I didn't think about it so much , what was the reason"

"Actually … he want to propose you" Conan said that with blush.

"Proposal, that's why he was hesitating, so the waitress was right"

"What waitress" Conan asked.

"She told me about the legendary couple who were in the same situation as I was when Shinichi ran to solve case; I thought Shinichi would never say that there because he is very …."

"Actually he was going to propose you there only because the legendary couple was no other than his parents, he told me it was memorable place for his parents" replied Conan with complete red face.

"Now you should stop Conan, rest I want to hear from cowardly mystery maniac "Ran said with blush on her face.

\- Sorry, only I thought you should know ... I just thought that knowing you would feel better.

She smiled sympathetically.

\- Do not worry, Conan-kun. You have managed to raise my spirits, but let me tell you that you have stepped on the hook yourself. I want you to tell me everything you know, you cannot get rid of that. You owe me. Also, there's something I want to ask you. Did Shinichi just tell you something about a message I sent him a while ago? I am already suspicious that you will just pass by here when I was waiting for his answer.

Hell, it must have been too obvious. He blushed but nodded.

Ran was burning with shame and spontaneous anger that threatened to blow her up. How was Shinichi able to comment on so many private things with that child? Although punishing him better, she had done the same thing several times.

Luckily for Conan those thoughts, managed to calm her down

\- All right Ran nee-chan. I'll tell you, but first, why do not you get comfortable? He pointed to the bed and stood up to run the blankets. Maybe you should go to bed or you'll catch cold. "He pointed to her bare feet.

\- Mmm, okay. But you will accompany me? She pulled him to her, without giving him the option to escape, and both stood sideways looking at each other. As much as I am angry at you with this moment, I feel that what you have to say to me will not be good, so stay with me. Just for a while.

Conan blushed again, sleeping with Ran ... it was something he did not expect, but he would enjoy it while it lasted.

Unconsciously he brushed a hair away from her face while thinking of how to start. I hated to lie to her but that was what happened at the time. I hoped one day to finally be able to fix things.

\- First of all, Ran nee-chan, I want you to know that Shinichi nee-chan is fine, really. You do not have to worry about him. It's just that he got into a case, do you know that, do you? I will not give you details about that. But the only reason he keeps away from you is to keep you protected, away from the world where he is now - seeing that she was going to open his mouth stopped her by placing a finger gently on his lips, did not blush, was serious -. He does not want you to get involved, to prevent something from happening to you. If ... if Shinichi nee-chan manages to solve the whole case on his own, he will not take any risks, seriously. And he will be able to return to your side - he paused -. Now, all this, is the reason why I really appeared at your side, why I appeared right after Shinichi disappeared.

Ran, who was only in his words, could not help but open his eyes even more.

\- You remember what Shinichi's mom said about us, is not it? He and I are very, very distant relatives, and I used to come to play with him at home the days my parents brought me on vacation. Maybe that's why we never crossed paths, they were very few - he paused to think how to continue -. Shinichi nee-chan taught me everything I know; if it will be something of a family, I do not know, but he always discovered that I never had a normal intelligence for someone of my age, so I suppose we take advantage of that. But I could never overcome it, that's why I still have to call it when we find that a case that I cannot solve by myself.

When she continued to pay attention, absorbing his words continued.

\- But to solve cases is not the only thing we talk about. You see ... the day Shinichi had to disappear, he told me his situation (at that time I still did not know Hattori) and he told me that surely you would be worried about him, could do something stupid he said and even though he could not see you even if he wanted to, he felt that he should leave you protected from some mode. That's why he sent me to take care of you, to watch over you so you would not do something stupid, with the purpose of looking for him. I did not doubt it, after everything he had done for me, how could I refuse? I was just spending a few days with Professor Agasa, on the subject of my parents' accident, remember? So as soon as I saw you, I decided that I would try to take care of you on behalf of Shinichi. I know I have not been the best Ran nee-chan but at least I tried it. Seeing you that I know I had failed once but I will never fail twice nothing like that night should be repeated. You know if Shinichi-niisan heard about it , his heart will be tear in pieces because of his and due to my carelessness you have to face that situation. If I failed again Shinichi niichan will definitely get angry with me and I will have no purpose living here.

He lowered his head a little, trying to avoid seeing expressions of her that indicated sadness or disappointment. Although I did not want to continue observing her while he continued with his lies. I could not continue with plan.

But he was taken by surprise by her response, which hugged him and drew him tightly against her chest, while he sobbed again.

Conan as he could also surround her with his arms and rested his head on her chest, he also needed it.

\- Ran nee-chan? You're good? I do not want you to cry, if there's something I said that bothered you, I just ... Shinichi will be very upset if he finds out you're crying because of me.

\- Now I understand everything. But ... they are fools, both complete fools. I promise you Conan I will never do anything stupid again but never leave me.

Eh ... decided was not that either the answer I expected, moved away a few inches and watched her.

She looked at him with watery but determined eyes.

And Who do he think he is to decide for me? A fragile princess out of a fairy tale who does not know how to defend herself? How could Shinichi send you knowing that you can also be in danger of knowing what he's gotten himself into? I would like all this to be told to me by himself, but not ... the very coward does not appear. I would be able to keep their secrets. Do you think he would not? I would never give it away.

Pff ... again the word "cowardly". A mental note was made. But did he really deserve it?

I don't know what happens to him when he nears you. He totally becomes an idiot. Everytime he is so confident and expresses his thought and when he is with you he forgets to what to say & express his feeling. He also told me he would rather like to die than living a life without you.

It seems like I am becoming a wall between you and him. I will love to leave but when he will arrive beside you.

\- I ... Ran nee-chan ... I'm sorry. I just wanted you to understand it a little more. I wanted you to know that even if Shinichi is not by your side, he has you in his thoughts, so do not think badly of him. He just wants to protect you. I know you are the most precious thing for Shinichi nii-chan

She sighed.

\- And he's the most precious thing to me too Conan-kun. But you know one thing - finally seeing the blush of the child, she smiled - I'm glad you're by my side; I do not know what would have been of me in all this time. You are no wall, you are my guardian angel.

She returned to hug him against his chest.

-I want you Conan-kun, I hope you always stay by my side, like Shinichi. I know that I have been selfish with my message tonight, but I would really like to be able to see it again sometime. One day, half an hour, whatever. I must talk to him and of course thank him for bringing you to my side. Do you think you could tell him that Conan-kun? - She rested her head against the boy's hair -. I ask you since you are his official messenger - he shrugged.

Conan raised his face and watched her. It was so beautiful ... He could not help it and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek flushed by his momentum

\- I ... I love you too, Ran nee-chan. You are the best I can have. Okay, I'll tell you, but in return Ran asked, will you stay me with you tonight? Is that…. You see, I do not want to go cold...

He made the tenderest gestures he could, trying to look like a helpless puppy. He knew it was wrong to sleep with Ran but he needed to be hugged again.

For her luck, she let out a laugh and pushed him against her chest again.

He used to snuggle closer to his side.

Conan-kun. And thanks for everything you've done for me.

Both sighed at last satisfied and more than ready to enter the world of dreams.

Waking up so warm surprised her.

At first she felt disoriented, but when she looked down and saw Conan holding her tightly with her small arms, she smiled tenderly. By instinct he also returned the gesture ... it was so warm.

Thanks to him, she had regained some of his joy, she did not know what would be of her without Conan at his side.

If everything the boy had said the night before (that Shinichi had sent him to take care of her), it meant that something mattered to his "friend" or not?

I hoped so, because I would not be ready if Shinichi finally did not come back, or rejected her in some way.

But she did not have to have negative thoughts, despite everything he trusted that he would do everything possible to return to his side. Although he would have loved that it was Shinichi himself who had given an answer to his message, and not through Conan, but you could not expect anything else from that unpredictable maniac.

He sighed and looked up at the clock on his bedside table.

But it was almost seven!

He had to get up quickly before his father woke up demanding breakfast. Careful not to wake him up, and after kissing him on the forehead, she brought in Conan.

As stealthily as she could, she went to the closet and took out her uniform to change in the bathroom. It was not something that the child woke up.

I would give anything to stay a little longer in bed but could not afford to miss classes, mainly because the exam period was already approaching.

Oh no, the exams! ...

... ...

I did not want to get up.

He had had a somewhat tormenting dream but it was so beautiful that he even thought he could smell Ran on her pillow.

Just a moment….

He woke with a start when he heard the sound of the door and was disoriented to see that this was not his room. Could it be that everything had been true?

Unconsciously he smiled and blushed as he remembered who he had slept with, but this was not the right time to think about those things, no.

He had to think seriously about what his next move would be, he hoped that Ran would not be angry with him now.

He needed to clear up, looked at his watch, and saw that it was still early.

He grabbed his glasses from the table where he had left them last night and left the room quietly, or so he thought.

... ...

-Oh, Conan kun. I see that you have already awakened. Did not you sleep well last night?

The boy froze when he saw Ran in front of him, looking at him strangely, as if nothing had happened; She was already with her apron on, I'm sure she would be taking care of breakfast already.

As efficient as expected.

-Eh ... Good morning, Ran nee chan. No, is not that. - When remembering again the night before he blushed -. Only me...

Hell, even having the intelligence of a seventeen-year-old kid did not help at all in those moments.

To her surprise she smiled tenderly and crouched down to be at his height.

\- There's Conan, you do not have to get nervous about yesterday. I hope I have not stolen your trust or that you scare me. I'm sorry, I suppose you found me in a moment of weakness - she sighed -. It should be me I was ashamed for not having thanked you correctly. - He had a rebellious hair on his forehead and he could only swallow nervously.

\- Thanks, Conan Kun seriously. I do not care if you came to my side thanks to Shinichi's idiot, but I just want you to know that your presence is more than wonderful. I would not like to lose you. - Conan could see how solitary tears slid down her cheeks and tried with his little hands to cleanse them.

I hated to see her cry.

\- Ran nee-chan. I will not go anywhere. Why do you say those things? I really want to help you, I do not like to see you cry. - It turned red again - Yes ... if I look nervous is that ... I thought you were going to be upset with me.

The force with which Ran embraced him took him completely by surprise, as always his reactions were all unexpected.

\- Conan-kun, you're so cute ...

Shinichi could return the gesture, resting his face against his shoulder.

Thank God, things within everything could return to "normal". Seeing Ran happy even for a moment was more than he could ask for.

He would have to see how he would reappear as Shinichi by his side, but later he would go to Professor Agasa to talk to Haibara. In spite of everything, I knew that I would not agree to provide him with an antidote, just for his whims with Ran.

\- But what the hell is happening? What are they supposed to do? They interrupt my step.

A Kogoro was shouting at them in a bad mood, he had just got up.

Apparently he had not been surprised by Conan's absence in his room.

\- Oh, dad. Do not worry, it's nothing. We were just talking about unimportant things, right Conan kun? - surreptitiously so that her father did not see her she wiped away the tears and stopped. Now, you have to dress properly that I have breakfast ready for you. I do not want you to be late for your meeting with Inspector Megure dad ...

-Yes, yes what you want. Good morning to you too Ran - still complaining Kogoro staggered to the bathroom.

Apparently the hangover from the previous night was not over.

Covering a smile, Conan turned to Ran.

I was going to try to distract her.

\- Hey Ran nee-chan. Are you going to prepare lunch for me today? I hope it's delicious.

For her luck she smiled at him.

\- Of course yes Conan kun. Who do you have me for? Is there anything special you want today?

After Shinichi asked for his favorite dessert he went to the kitchen to continue with his chores.

Conan smiled to see her so happy, and went to the room to change, had left the cell phone careless on the sheets.

He took it and what surprised him were the messages: there were two from Haibara and one from Ran ...

At what moment had he written again?

He read Ran's first.

 _Shinichi_

 _I'm sorry about my message last night, I hope I did not bother you._

 _I am very sorry ... I know that, although I do not like it at all, at some point you will return_

 _I promise not to bother you again with my nonsense ..._

 _Talking with Conan helped me a lot. I wanted to thank you for sending him to me._

 _I do not know what I would do without him, without you being by my side._

 _Ran_

No, this was wrong. Ran did not have to feel guilty or regretful.

Had he pretended for a moment? Doing as if nothing happened.

I urgently needed to talk to Haibara. He needed to go back to his body or he would go crazy

When he remembered, he began to read the other messages, and he noticed that he also had four missed calls from him.

 ** _Kudo-kun, piece of hollow head._**

 ** _Could you do me the favor of answering the stupid phone? Come to the hakase's house. I have a new prototype that I would like to try with you. I think it could last about two weeks ..._**

And the other message

 ** _If you do not come fast I think I'll decide to waste the new antidote with a snake before you._**

 ** _Moron!_**

It did not take him long to decide and with his heart beating a thousand, he changed his clothes and fled to the street.

He barely heard the sounds of Ran calling him.

I was not so excited for a long time. If what Haibara had said was true, that meant he could spend a few days with Ran, it was all he asked for.

Impulsively he answered the message

 _Hey Ran, how are you?_

 _I'm sorry about last night. I'm sorry I did not answer immediately, I'm really glad that Conan-kun has been able to lift your spirits. I'm sorry I could not tell you personally about your help._

 _We can talk in person if you still want, I guess I can take a few days for your birthday. What do you say? Two weeks are enough for you?_

... ...

What did all this mean?

The surprise message from Shinichi and the flight of Conan. Were they connected more than I expected?

I had not even seen him take his backpack. She leaned out the window and managed to see it bending around the corner. Where did he go?

I would repress it as soon as I returned. That brat ... she had even begun to make his lunch. Surely his father would have no problem in having extra food. But hey, I would solve it.

Now I wanted to know it was Shinichi's intentions. Had her message caused him to reappear?

And what did he mean to spend two weeks together? Did he mean spending two weeks ... alone?

She blushed at the thought.

But hey, that was what he craved, was not it? To be able to see him again, spend time together, just for them.

she hoped that his promise would come true, because she was already starting to get excited, hopefully they could finally clarify his feelings face to face. So much anxiety was tormenting her.

But she would not let herself be carried away by bad thoughts.

Smiling, she wrote back a message.

 _Shinichi:_

 _What do you mean by spending two weeks together? What do you have in mind? What are your intentions?_

 _Is it that you can take a vacation or something?_

 _I hope you can really, because I would really like to see you._

 _Ran_

I expected him to answer immediately, but he did not.

Maybe I should call him later.

He would see, now she should take care of his father and worry about having everything ready to go to school.

I did not want to tell Sonoko about Conan yet, and I did not want to deceive her with the supposed return of Shinichi, because otherwise I would drive her crazy. I knew her too much.

... ..

I expected Haibara not to be playing tricks on him.

If your messages were true. If there was a chance that the antidote would work, even for a few weeks, it would be the greatest thing that had happened for months.

When he was about to arrive at the house of Professor Agasa, he felt his cell phone vibrate.

It was Ran again, apparently it had raised his spirits a little.

As soon as Haibara confirmed everything, he would call and arrange the final details to be by his side.

Maybe they would have to go to another country to go unnoticed by the Organization, but that would come later. I was more than anxious about that.

He entered unannounced, hoping someone was still at home.

He took it completely off guard that it was not the little girl who was sitting in Agasa's dining room, but a tall woman with short hair and a bored look. He was quietly having coffee.

Was she Sherry?

Why had Haibara finally decided to return to his normal form?

Was it that they were finally about to end the Organization?

Shiho Miyano, Sherry or better known as Haibara turned to hear his accelerated breathing and looked at him.

As the little girl did, her face showed no expression.

\- Oh, are you new? Did not I tell you to come right away? Silly hollow head, you almost manage to exasperate me ...

Conan was totally bewildered

\- Eh ... Haibara? Is it you? Why…?

The question remained unfinished as he watched someone enter the room.

It was Subaru.

I was totally confused, I did not understand anything. Why was Subaru in the house of Professor Agasa? And why had Sherry reappeared infront of him ? He knew how much she cared for his true identity.

Had they discovered them at last?

\- Oh, finally you get Shinichi-kun. We were waiting for you - out of sheer instinct, the little boy recoiled when he saw the man approaching.

Subaru had a cup of coffee in his hands and unwrapped as if it were his own house, his smile and his look could make anyone uneasy.

\- What is all this? Does anyone want to explain it to me?

\- Hey, hey ... Do not be heavy. It's your fault for taking so long, we were waiting for you all night and you never showed up. So now do not expect us to welcome you as usual.

\- Please, Sherry. Do not be so bad with the boy.

\- Sherry? Does he know everything about you? I mean ... "Shinichi was increasingly confused.

He had no choice but to trust Haibara.

\- All right, all right. Come here and we will explain everything to you. Haibara, or rather Shiho pointed to Conan in front of her. Maybe if Agasa did not eat all the pancakes I asked for, you can eat some with us.

Subaru offered him his cup of coffee while he sat down, but Conan rejected it with a gesture. He did not find it funny to take something, which for him could be suspect.

\- Sorry, I do not want to offend you Shinichi kun. I guess all this must be all surprising to you

The boy did not take his eyes off Sherry, who did not seem to flinch at all. I also stared at him.

\- Leave it. First of all, little fool, I want you to give me an explanation of why you took so long to answer me. What could interest you more than my antidote. Were you sleeping with your "girlfriend"?

She said it casually, as if it were not true. But seeing Conan's deep blush, she realized her mistake.

I knew that he should never have had hope, inside he felt like a part inside her was breaking into pieces.

But I was never going to prove it.

\- It does not matter. Everything is as long as you have not told her anything of great importance-seeing that he only denied continued. What I tell you now, is purely secret. I hope you understand that. As always, your friend Hattori may be an exception or your parents, but no one else should know. Do you agree with me Kudo? I do not want you to interrupt me until I finish.

Noticing that it would be said to him with his real name, he noticed the seriousness of the cunning, so he just nodded.

\- Well, as you may have guessed, Subaru kun, he knows everything about me. He was my sister's partner before she died.

I'll just tell you that his real name is Akai San, and he works with the FBI, was an infiltrator of the Organization. He had to consider himself dead so he could escape so for his own safety .

"I know" replied Conan.

"you already know, you jerk , you piece of junk, I know you were hiding something about him and whenever I said I want to this person Akai of FBI you just ignore….." Said Shiho.

Cutting Shiho's word "Yes, well, as you say. The thing is, I doubted you, Shinichi-kun from the beginning. Living in your house has left me with several clues, you know?

Of course he knew it, but almost from the beginning he had discarded Subaru as a suspect. - you have to know about me is that I'm here to help you to end all this. During my disappearance I got to see kir in a laboratory that the Organization has in Kyoto and I managed to retrieve the some part of formula of APTX 4869 from kir. I gave it to Shiho to investigate and could create the definitive antidote, it is more than a duty, it is due to my little mother. I'm afraid she was also a victim of the drug and she was like you. That is why I am here. Besides, I do not think Akemi would have liked his sister to be hurt in any way, so I think I could protect them while this mess lasts.

Upon hearing about his sister, Conan noticed how Shiho's expression darkened.

He decided to change the subject instantly

\- he Kudo, is that thanks to the formula that Akai-san gave me, I will be able to believe the permanent antidote will ready but how much time it will take I don't know . As proof myself I decided to take the prototype since you were late. - He gave Shinichi a look that expressed all his anger -. If all goes well, I will only become approximately two weeks later, and the next dose could be the true cure according to my calculations but with some information I have to create the complete drug again. I hope you do it too so I can see the possible side effects. What do you say?

Of course Conan had already made his decision. I do not doubt it.

Conan left the house of Professor Agasa almost as exalted as he had entered.

Before leaving house Shiho stopped him and said" you know you should not tell her the truth, otherwise you know what would happen. She is strong and she could handle her but you need to control your frustrations. It seems this time you managed not to tell her but if you can't control your emotions better to forget them or write them somewhere with this." Handling a pen she said" this hakase new invention whatever you write with this will only visible through your glasses. I know you think I 'm idiot but writing down sometimes helps better to control emotions than you think. Think about it. If you write careful to hide "

Surprisingly Conan asked how she know about the problem he was facing." All is written your face you idiot, not responding to their messages was another sign." She replied. Conan nodded and ran towards agency thinking

I could not believe it. At the end of so much time, he would have his antidote.

When Haibara had sent the messages about it he thought he was in a dream but now everything was closer to reality.

What Subaru had also told them that morning was that if they decided to return to normal soon, that would mean deciding to strike a final blow at the Organization.

But first you should take the prototype for two weeks, and he knew who would spend that time with.

It was the only condition he had imposed on Haibara and he knew that she owed it to him. After all, the scientist was the cause of all her problems, she did not want to be unfair to her (knowing how hard her past had been), but if something bad happened to her during her attack on the Organization, she spent the last weeks of her life. happy life, with his beloved.

Unable to contain himself, he read again Ran's message and decided to answer him. I would not call him now that I knew he was in school.

 _Ran:_

 _Silly, what kind of evil thoughts do you have in mind? )_

 _I thought it would not hurt to see us._

 _You know, I also have things to tell you._

 _Maybe we could take a trip, think about it, so nobody could bother us._

 _At night I'll call you to fix, just tell me if there's a place where you'd like to go; whoever you want The rest of the details do not worry I could talk to my parents. )_

 _As it is for your birthday, take it as a gift. What do you think?_

 _Shinichi_

As it was too late to go to school, he decided to go back home, get some sleep and maybe (if he had stayed), eat a delicious lunch.

Heading back to agency..

Then, he would have many things to think about, he had in mind to tell the truth of Conan to Ran, even if he owed that part to him.

I could not continue with so many lies if they were to spend so much time alone.

Who knows what could happen, but could not with his conscience if she found out about someone else; Ran would finally hate him.

He would have to call his parents or Hattori for advice, even though he knew they would not stop teasing him, but he did not have anyone else to turn to.

...

The class was so bored, that she decided to look at her cell phone.

I did not know when Shinichi would answer him.

His message surprised her. Oh, apparently he was also anxious to see her.

She blushed.

Why had he planned for them to go on a trip? The idea tempted her.

Spending a time alone, away from the outrageous Sonoko or his father, would not be bad, could not deny that it was what she wanted most at that time. So much waiting time, at the end was rewarded.

she knew she would die of shame as soon as she got it in front of him, but she hoped to control herself.

For God's sake ... If only Shinichi was his childhood friend, was not he?

Although it was also the love of her life, there was no doubt in her mind.

Sigh.

It would be great to be able to meet new places, but where would you like to go?

Mmm who had told him they could go to one place?

I already knew that I would ask that foolish maniac for his birthday.

When Ran returned home, Conan noticed that she was in much better mood than in the morning.

hello Conan how was your day?

Then he thought now she was going to scold him for leaving without warning but instead she ran up to hug him.

The little one soon blushed.

\- Ahh Conan-kun, well, you're fine, do not ever escape like that again, all right? You know, I was worrying when I thought about where you would be.

\- I'm fine Ran nee-chan. I'm sorry I worried you. Is that ... - an excuse was invented -. Haibara was sick and as Professor Agasa was about to leave, he asked me to take care of her, just that. I am sorry.

Taking advantage of the occasion, and pressed closer to her.

\- Oh, poor Ai-chan. It will be restored soon, right? He parted a little to watch her worried.

\- Yes, luckily. Although it will have to be a few days at rest, just to prevent infections. You see that she caught a very strong virus ... And what happened to you? You look happier than this morning; Shinichi nii-chan wrote you, is not it?

His bright look upon hearing his name said it all. I was happy.

\- Oh, is it so noticeable to me? Although I suppose I should not be surprised if you are a maniac like him - she smiled to the fullest -. He has written me to go on a trip together! Is not that romantic Conan-kun? - He blushed again -. I have already chosen the place, he said he would take care of all the details, although I do not know if that's okay. I guess I'll have to save in the next few weeks.

Right away Conan tried to distract her.

-At last, Ran nee chan. This is what I wanted, right? See it again I say that you pay attention to him, do not worry about anything. Also Shinichi said it was a gift for your birthday. Where do you plan to go?

I was more than anxious to know.

-But ... but I've told you anything that was for my birthday. Did you also talk to him Conan? -He dressed to the maximum watching him threatening, the little boy swallowed scared-. Now that I remember him, you're like his spy. If you want to know where we're going to go, well, call me. - Spun around-. If it will be ... That damn coward ... You'll see how much you have it in front of you. Using a helpless child instead ...

Babbling incoherent things, she left for the kitchen.

Conan was finally able to release the air. At least his mistake had not gone so badly.

As the hunger was more than the fear of some other reaction of Ran, he followed her to the kitchen to wait for one of her delicious muffins that she used to cook every afternoon that she was in a good mood.

... ...

At six thirty in the afternoon he decided that it was time to disappear to call Ran.

With the excuse of returning to the house of Agasa for something forgotten, he went out and hid in the nearest phone booth, as he always did, from there he could use his voice transformer without being noticed.

The ringing tone was eternal. He had seen her with the phone circling around the room, so he would have to see him right away.

Of course, only the waiting lasted a few seconds.

\- Shinichi, is it you?

I could feel the anxiety in his voice.

\- Hi, Ran. Yes, it's me. My number has to appear on your screen, or is that ... Did you expect someone else?

\- Fool! Of course not. It's just that you took so long that I thought you'd never call me.

\- Uh, I'm so sorry, it's that I had several pending issues that ...

\- You and your pending matters. I already begin to believe that I am always your second choice

Ran did not know why his subconscious was trying to attack him.

Shinichi's heart sank.

\- You know it's not like that. I also told you that we could spend a few days together. Have you thought about where you would like to go? You see, Conan told me that you had already decided.

\- Ah ... With that you already went with the gossip. Well yes, I thought of something. But are you sure about this Shinichi? I mean ... Will not that be a lot of expenses? And what about my father?

\- Silly, I told you not to think about anything. I already talked to my parents and they told me there was no problem. I never ask too much so everything is fine. My mother said we could get a paid vacation for your father, somewhere away from us, so you would not have to worry about him. It would not hurt at all. So leave it alone ... Just take it as a gift, okay? Also - he blushed -, I remember that it was you who asked me to come back Or am I wrong?

On the other side of the Ran line, she also went red.

\- Eh, yes ... I guess. Well, it is a gift, I hope you have no objection to my choice. Besides ... Besides ... What if I told you if there are other people I would like to be with too?

That took Shinichi by surprise. Other people? Who did you mean? He thought that Ran also wanted to spend some time _alone_ . Apparently I was never going to understand this woman,

\- Other people? What do you mean with that? Do not tell me you're thinking about inviting Sonoko.

I did not think I could stand it.

\- Silly, of course not. You know she would not leave us alone ... It's just that I'd really like to see if we could spend the time split into two places. We could do it? I really like. Look, we can spend a week alone ... us. I think we would need that privacy, "she trailed nervously. And the rest of the days we could be in the company of Heiji and Kazuha in Osaka. It would be good? I do not know if it's what you had in mind, but I was missing you and I wanted to see you and ... I thought we could have fun together. I know he's a great friend of yours ... But when they see each other they're just stuck in a case and as summer vacation comes, I hoped we could ... do other things.

His nervousness was increasingly noticeable.

The idea did not seem very bad to him. He would like to spend a few "normal" days in the company of those two.

If the effect of the antidote were reversed earlier, with Heiji by his side it would be all the easier.

I just wanted to make sure I spent a few days with Ran just for her.

In the end Shinichi smiled and took pity on her.

\- Shh ... Now ... quiet, silly. Agree. You really surprised me. But I do not think the idea is wrong. I'm sure Heiji will be more than happy to give us one of his tours of Osaka.

\- Great. Thanks Shinichi, really.

\- Now, tell me where you'd like us to go the first week.

Ready, it was time, she could do it.

He took a deep breath before answering.

\- First you have to promise me one thing. It is a promise that I hope you will fulfill, no matter what happens. Agree?

\- A promise? He instantly became alert. What do you mean?

\- You see, I want to make sure everything goes well, so I do not want to end up alone, lost somewhere far away (as you always make me feel when you disappear) - a direct blow to Shinichi's heart -. So what, you have to promise me that whatever happens, you will not leave my side. Agree? Even if they kill the prime minister himself, I do not care. I just want you not to leave behind some case and abandon me. And if something happens to happen at least let me stay by your side, accompany you. Do you think you could do that for me for a few days? I want this time your answer is sure Shinichi, because your previous promises were not fulfilled, I do not care what your reasons have been, you always end up abandoning me. Yes really what you told me in London was true ... I really hope you meet

It had been harder than he had expected, but he wanted to make his ideas clear from the start.

For once it was not going to be treated as a second option.

He knew that he could never push Shinichi away from the mysteries, but for once, he wanted her to be the protagonist,

After waiting so long, he knew that she was not asking for much.

The seconds in which it took him to respond were endless.

\- Hey Ran, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was not the best _friend_ you could have. I know I've been a selfish most of the time, and you do not know how much I regret it. I hope someday to be able to compensate you when all this is over and you can definitely come home. Shinichi could not hide his anguish. You do not have to ask me anything Of course I will not let you go from my side, and I'm sure I would not want to do it for the world. This time will be for us. And I want you to know that what I said in London was true. If the circumstances had been different, from that moment I would never have left you. But you have to know that I'm not going to leave, at least not without you by my side. -I really thought to fulfill it. Does that leave you more calm, honey?

The affectionate mote surprised them ...

They both noticed that it had been spontaneous and they blushed.

-I'm ... yes. I'm sorry, I know I'm being selfish in this.

-No, you are not. Never think of yourself like that, it's good that you told me how you feel. Regarding the previous promises do not worry, as soon as we see each other I will tell you all my reasons. I do not expect you to understand me, but I would like to tell you everything.

\- Really?

Shinichi did not miss the exaltation in his voice.

\- Yes, I will. And if I do not fulfill some of these things, you have all the permission to add a lot of kicks from your karate to the list, I know I deserve them. He sighed relieved to feel her laugh. Okay, enough talk. Tell me where you want to go so I can organize everything together with my parents.

\- Okay ... mmm I guess you'll be more than agree with me with this. - He paused that impacted Shinichi -. I would like to go to London. The last time I did not get to know much (at least not quietly), I also think it would be a good place to continue what happened last time. What do you say? -. Ran began to get nervous again.

London…

He had not expected it, but the idea tempted him. Thousands of ideas crossed his mind; Yes, it was the perfect place for all your plans.

In addition, they could walk quietly, know the Holmes Museum ...

\- London? If you are sure, it seems great. Although I hope you do not do it for me, you know you can choose anywhere.

-No, do not worry, I really want to go.

Shinichi smiled at the emphasis on his words.

-Okay, whatever you say.

Shinichi cut the communication after assuring him that he would speak to him again next week.

The next few days were going to be the longest of his life.

Now what he had to do was fix everything with his mother, and think about what excuse to give Ran and his father about a possible sudden disappearance of Conan.

Besides, he could not leave without having discussed things with Haibara, first they would have to observe the effects of the antidote on her.

... ...

He could not believe it, at last he would have his most desired meeting.

I was radiant with happiness.

As soon as Conan returned at dinner time, he saw it also livelier.

Was that because he had been with Haibara again?

He could not fool her, surely that girl had managed to conquer his heart.

She smiled at the thought that it was the right one for him, since both seemed older than they counted.

She did not know why but she started to feel something like jealousy.

No, it could not be, besides Conan Kun was just like a little brother to her, right?

As usual, the three of them sat at the table.

His mood was reflected in his meals. This time he had taken pains to create a great banquet.

\- How was your brat day? I found out you did not go to school today. What will your parents think of you if you do not complete your tasks? Your parent never call or meet? - Oh no, his father was already drinking. It was not hard for him to disturb the little one when he was in that state but usually, he did not pay attention to him.

To his surprise, Conan looked at him.

\- Ah ... Now I remember. I have something to tell you. Uncle Kogoro, Ran nee-chan, today I spoke at the home of Professor Agasa with my parents. Apparently they're on vacation . "He fixed his gaze on his friend. They asked me if I wanted to spend time with them and I ... I accepted. They'll come and pick me up in a few days if that's okay.

While Kogoro was still processing the words, Ran immediately attacked him with questions

\- Will you leave home? Why? I mean ... I know they're your parents and all that but still ...

Conan had not expected that reaction from her. Had she become so accustomed to his small size?

I did not think it would be a problem. When he told him the whole truth, he would not be.

He tried to comfort her, he knew that he went through a lot that day.

\- Do not worry Ran nee- chan. I will not leave forever. When you return you will not even have noticed it. You'll also have Shinichi neechan by your side, right?

Apparently he did not achieve his goal, because the look of sadness did not leave his face during the rest of the dinner.

... ..

I was still worried at bedtime. Again like the night before, he went to Ran's room to watch her.

As if for instance, she turned and saw him.

Without words he held out his arms and he did not need another excuse to throw himself between them.

\- Conan-kun, please do not abandon me.

He did not intend to do it, he had promised it a few hours ago.

Of course she did not know.

His heart cringed, he could not throw all his plans to lose and explain everything at that moment. If I wanted everything to go well, I had to wait.

\- Do not worry Ran nee chan. Do not cry. He moved a little away and, as he suspected, saw her tears; He wiped them with his little fingers. I told you I will not leave forever. Do not be sad, Shinichi would not like anything to know that I made you sad, it was not my intention. I ... I'm going to miss you, Ran nee-chan but I would also like to spend some time with my parents, taking advantage of their vacations. Also, as you will be with Shinichi, I do not think anything will happen to you.

\- It's just ... I'm scared, you know. How I lost it to Shinichi could lose you, and I do not think I can stand to go through something like that again. But hey, I guess I'm more sensitive today than usual, do not you think? It'll eventually go away. She smiled embarrassed. Conan kun, would you like to go back to sleep with me? I feel that with you at last I was able to rest as I had not done for a long time.

The little one blushed but timidly nodded.

He had also slept much better in her arms. He knew it would become a bad habit, but he did not care.

...

Now Conan had become more depressed, the look he saw on her face, her words was killing him from inside. His lies making her sadder day by day and the incident that take place few days ago Ran return home in drunken state was the worst he could tolerate. He want to cry, shout but can't. He needed to express himself but can't. His depression once makes him do what he didn't want. He had broken Conan's innocence once but didn't want to repeat it otherwise they will not able handle it. So he needs suppress his feelings but wondering how. Then he remembered what Haibara told her, when your thoughts overcome your mind and if you can't express them then it is better to forget them or write them. He can't forget these things easily so he decided to write. He thought his battle is tough with black organization and maybe he not survives so there should be something that can express his feelings to Ran if He failed to express himself. He took the pen Haibara gave him & started writing. First he wrote the hint that can make written things visible that Ran could deduce by herself. Also he decided in his journal he would write down the letters he wanted to send to her last year.

 _Entry #1_

 _I've never been really good at keeping a journal. I have a notebook that I write evidence in but that's different. I guess I should start by writing down stuff about myself. My name is Shinichi Kudo. I'm 17 years old and was in my second year in high school. I was a famous high school detective. But that all seems like a dream now. Those guys took all of that away from me._

 _It all started when I took Ran to Tropical Land. I promised to take her since she won her karate tournament. Back then, I was cocky…overconfident. I thought that I was invincible. Ran warned me about that but I was so filled with pride, that I didn't listen. Why didn't I listen to her?_

 _I solved a murder that happened on the roller coaster that we were riding. I remember that the two guys that were sitting in the back were acting suspicious. I couldn't forget those guys, even if I wanted to. After the murder was solved, me and Ran rode some other rides. She was upset because of what had happened but I took it lightly. I see that sort of thing all the time so I was used to it._

 _I remember seeing one of the suspicious guys, the ones that were acting suspicious, run off behind one of the attractions. I told Ran that I'd catch up with her later and ran off after the man. She told me to wait but I didn't listen. Why didn't I listen to her?_

 _It turned out that the man was in the middle of a shady transaction. Before I could do anything, the other one had snuck up from behind and hit me on the back of the head.. If only I had listened to Ran, than I wouldn't be in this mess. Why didn't I listen to her?_

 _Letter 1_

 _Dear Ran,_

 _I am not really sure what to say. I have so much to tell you, I don't know where to start. I meant what I said in London. I never planned for you to find out like that though. Remember that time we went to the fancy restaurant and then the murder happened? I was going to tell you there, and a million other places, but I was an absolute baro and couldn't bring myself to say it. I'm sorry Ran. I am truly sorry for everything I have put you through. I hate to see you cry, especially over me. I don't deserve a friend like you. Are we still friends now, Ran? Or are we something else? I wish I could tell you everything that is going on, and what my big case is. But I can't, Ran. AS much as I want to, I can't. I did something stupid and can't back out. I will not let you get involved, Ran. I can't let you get hurt because of me._

 _Hattori was right, you know. When he said I was watching you when you first met him. I always watch over you, to make sure you're safe. I know you can take care of yourself, but I know that these guys are bigger then something even you or I could handle alone. Don't worry about me though, Ran. I am not alone in this, not anymore. I know you would want to help in some way, that's just how you are. But you are already helping me, Ran. Every time I see that you are safe, whenever you laugh or smile, I remember why I have to fight. So wait for me, would you?_

 _From your Shinichi._

Conan laid down his pen and felt some relief . It had been a while since his 'incident' and he still had nothing to go on. Ran and Kogoro were out for the day, leaving him alone. He stared out the window with a sad look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ran. I should have listened to you."

It was already a day since Conan wrote the first entry to his journal. It just seemed that writing down how he felt really helped him feel as if he had a grasp on things. He had decided that he would only write in it when Ran and Kogoro left him alone at the detective agency. Kogoro was out on a case (it was just tailing so Conan figured that he wouldn't be needed) while Ran was shopping with Sonoko.

Conan sighed as he picked up the pen. He thought over the events of that week. He especially thought about Ran. She seemed really distant lately. Conan couldn't help but feel like it was all his fault.

Next day

"You are amazing, Ran." Sonoko said when they were in Mouri Agency.

"What do you mean Sonoko?" Ran asked not to understand.

"How long did you not understand? I talked about Shinichi. You're still waiting for him, right? Our school's pride detectives." Sonoko answered a little indifferently.

Without them knowing Conan, who had just returned from school, accidentally eavesdropped on their conversation. ' Especially what the rich girl wants from Ran' said Conan silently. He also tried to open the doorknob but stopped when he heard Sonoko's voice again.

"You're really amazing Ran. If I won't hold it, but this is what we're talking about. Why don't you forget it. Araide-sensei isn't bad either, Ran. He's good and smart, doctor again. I think he Like you Ran, because he always helps the drama club practice at the same time as your karate training schedule, it's not a coincidence, right ... It's been over a year, he hasn't heard from, Ran.

Conan was silent in front of the door, his hand that was originally on the door knob began to detach and was completely beside his body. He bowed. Maybe it's true that Sonoko said, maybe he was so selfish that Ran kept waiting for him. He loves Ran, that's for sure. Since the first time they met, even though he only realized it when they were in middle school, he always knew that he always liked the girl. Since he became Conan, he found Ran's side that he didn't know when he was Shinichi. When Ran cried, how many times had she wanted to hug her to calm her down. When they take a bath together or have to sleep on the same bed, he must hold himself from not doing beyond the limits like yes. Do not talk about it. But even so Ran remained strong and kept waiting for him.

Sonoko watch how sad her face has become so try to distract her and says" you know Ran , Kaito kid has announce that he come and steal the jewel that uncle Jirochiki-san has put the dress that Designer Fusae Campbell has made. You know she might come to see the dress You will wear in the Drama . I will make sure you meet her."

Surprisingly Ran asked " is it true Sonoko". Yes nodded Sonoko. Seeing Ran Sonoko was she accomplished her goal to cheer her. Then she said Goodbye.

"I like hearing Conan-kun, but there's no one."

"What's wrong, Shinichi? You look moody?"

After hearing Sonoko and Ran's conversation at the Mouri Detective Agency, Conan decided to play at Professor Agasa's house. Conan then invited himself to the viewing room, instead of watching the news, but Conan was completely out of focus.

"What are they doing here?"

"They are organizing a strategy to capture Kid." Ai answered, who had just joined Conan and Professor.

"AH! I forgot."

Professor then rushed to the Little Detective, Time for Quiz was heard by protests from the three first grade elementary school children. Conan just put on his face easily as usual. Conan finally decided to join the little detective group. As usual Conan answered the quiz was difficult for the little detective but easy for Conan smoothly.

"Professor, because we can answer the quiz. Take us to that place." Ayumi said.

"That place?" Asked Conan did not understand.

"You have forgotten Conan? This night Kid will act. We, Little Detectives, will capture Kid and ..." Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi's faces turned dreamy to imagine their faces on Headline News .

"But not only that, tonight is also the night of Showdown Kid . Hehehe if we can catch him, we can ..." added Mitsuhiko, who made the faces of the three first grade elementary children dreamy .

Hearing that Conan became excited again. The two rivals will appear, the opportunity cannot be missed. Ai smiled as Conan returned to his spirits. An annoying smile is right for Conan's face rather than his gloomy face. The night arrived Conan and Little Detective went to where Kid met.

"Yo Kudo."

"Hattori? What are you doing here?"

"This is my territory, have you forgotten you're in the O-Sa-Ka area."

His rival, this one always boasts his area and is always angry if the area is ridiculed, but Conan doesn't want to serve this rival.

A few hours before arriving in Osaka ...

Conan and the little detectives go home to take their needs while in Osaka later, Professor and Ai have to take the children while asking for permission while Conan uses his skateboard to the Mouri Detective Agency.

Conan! You give this to Ran at school, I have important business. Mouri's orders then ran away somewhere.

' Most playing mahjong or to horse racing . Conan catches Ran's deposit, then takes his needs. I'll tell Ran later. '

.

.

"Oi Mouri! Kudou's son came here." Goda one of Ran's classmates.

"Oh Conan, Ran is training with the others at the Gym, you go there. You already know right?" said Sera who was hanging out in class.

Besides the drama players, they are in class to make settings stage. Sera includes one of them, "Oi Conan, catch this!" Conan caught the object that Sera threw. Conan look and read that it was script of school drama.

Conan then rushes to the Gym to give Kogoro a deposit to Ran. Arriving at the Gym, Sonoko's voice was heard giving direction to the players, Ran was seen memorizing drama scripts. Doctor Araide was seen approaching Ran, they looked like they were talking about something about their school drama. Then Sonoko approached both of them, visible red hue on their faces. Huh? Red hue? What is that? Conan aka Shinichi just quietly sees the scene, if you think he's not jealous, he isn't jealous just feeling annoyed. He should be there. Ran and Tomoaki (Doctor Araide) are acting.

"Ran-neechan!"

"Conan-kun?"

Conan immediately separated the two and gave Kogoro a deposit to Ran. Don't forget he had been allowed by Ran to reason with camping with a little detectives and Professor.

"Ran-neechan, I'm saying goodbye right now. OH! Ran-neechan, it looks like your phone is ringing. Maybe Shinichi-niichan." Said Conan, raising his voice in Oh and emphasizing Shinichi's name.

"Hah, but my cellphone is in class, Conan-kun. How can you hear it?" Ran replied in surprise, but Conan immediately left the Gym.

But because she heard the name Shinichi, Ran rushed to his class. Conan and Shinichi are familiar, so maybe Conan is right, that's how Ran thought. Meanwhile Conan who had come out of Teitan High School towards Professor Agasa's house immediately took out Shinichi's cellphone and contacted Ran.

"Ran, I heard from Conan that you and the doctor almost kissed," Shinichi said, starting his phone.

"Eh? How is that possible. Why? You're jealous?" Ran was surprised by the question. Shinichi's voice was laughing at the other end.

"Yeah right, I'm very jealous you understand." Shinichi replied jokingly, Ran knew Shinichi must be.

They also talked about school dramas that were held for the separation of third graders, then other things that were not very important but they did not want to end their chat quickly.

.

.

"Shinichi will you come to my drama later like that time?" Ran's question made Shinichi stop.

"Sorry Ran, forgive me Ran I have to go, there is another case that I have to complete." Close Shinichi.

.

.

.

"Conan! You were a long time ago, we almost left you know." Exclaimed little detectives in Professor's car.

"Sorry, I'm went to Ran-neechan's school first, delivering my uncle's deposit."

They went to Osaka to catch Kid .

Return to Osaka ..

"Oi Kudo! Kudou ...!"

"What? Where is Kudou? Ah, I called Ran ah Kudou here." shouted Kazuha.

"AAHH! Kudou ... Kukukudoudoudou ... Ku-Dou-Ta-Ke-Ya-Ma." Heiji replied casually.

"Why are you Heiji? Have you taken the wrong medication?"

"AAH you are so stupid Kazuha! I mean not Kudou Shinichi but Kudou Takeyama, it's a wild cat who often stops by my room because his face looks like Kudou so I call him hahaha but he hasn't come for days so I call him."

Soon a white cat, in the black head, came to bring fish in its mouth. He approached Heiji and placed his fish at Heiji's feet, then stroked his head to Heiji's feet.

"Meooong meow" (Translate: what did you call me?)

"Oh Kudou, you're back. Ah I miss you." Heiji also carried the cat.

"Meeeoooonng Meow meow meowooooooongg" (Who are you? I don't know you. Ah but I smell my favorite food)

"Yeah yeah I know, you want dried squid to be treated by my pants right Kudou, ha ha ha you really like Kudou, you can immediately know there's dried squid in my pants pocket."

"Meoooong" (Oh, really?)

"Thank you Kudou, this is your favorite food." Heiji also lowered the cat and gave dried squid in his pants to the cat.

"Oh, so this cat is called Kudou Takeyama." Kazuha said squatting stroking the cat's head.

"K-Conan!" Heiji called but Conan was gone.

"Conan has gone with the reddish-brown girl."

"Why don't you tell me, Kazuha ?!"

.

.

"Oi Haibara, here for a moment." call Conan away from the little detective.

"What is wrong?" Ai asked indifferently.

"I can't ask for another prototype," Conan whispered hopefully.

"Why is this time again with him?"

"..."

"All right, but I can't guarantee until when you will return to Conan again. You want to wear it for the school drama again, right?"

DEG!

Right on target. Where did he know about the school drama?

"This time, can it last up to two or three days like the first time?"

"You know that's impossible, Kudou-kun."

"Oi Conan, Haibara, here!" Genta exclaimed.

"We're late, look here." Mitsuhiko said, showing the email on Ayumi's cellphone and the card in her hand.

In a written email:

See you later in Tokyo. I will steal something valuable from you, ja ne Tantei-kun.

In the Kid card written:

"I will come on a special night for lonely orchids as the ruler of truth hiding behind lies. I will seize your favorite flower, O ruler of truth. Come and stop me if you can."

That night the Detectives and Professor decided to return to Tokyo after walking around Osaka before returning to Tokyo.

Cannot dream, cannot share, sweet and tender moments

Cannot feel, how we feel, must pretend it's over.

Must be brave and we must go on.

Must not say what we've known all alone

"Conan-kun, today will you come to my school drama?" Ran hope. Deep down, sometimes Ran still thinks that Conan and Shinichi are the same person.

"Ah, I -"

"You better come, boy. The drama this time will be broadcast by all Japanese television ho ho ho"

Conan's words were cut off when Sonoko appeared with the half shocking news.

"So it's true that I have to wear that, Sonoko."

"Of course, just leave it to me. Araide-sensei is also very handsome. Look at the boy, they are both very suitable right."

Sonoko showed a photo of Ran and Araide-sensei during their final training. In the photo Ran wears clothes like a whole bead while Araide-sensei wears crowns and royal clothes like Ran just doesn't have those beads. In the photo, Ran and Araide-sensei were very intimate. Araide-sensei is really like a person who is different from the hair style and without her glasses.

'This.'

"When will the school drama begin?" Conan asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, so you want to see it too, boy."

"Here, tickets for our school drama show. Everything is seven. Make sure Kudou comes, okay. Tell him if he doesn't come, his wife will come down into another man's arms hohoho invite Subaru-san too and the detective, Amoru Tooru huh if it's not wrong. "

"Sonoko!"

Conan chokes on Sonoko's words, not because of the first or second sentence but because the rich girl invited members of the black organization. Sonoko and Ran said goodbye to Conan to go to their drama place, Conan also went straight to see the little detectives.

"Conan, again you're late."

"Conan-kun, you're always late on an important day."

"Yeah, we still can't crack the code given by this Kid. If kid is definitely about Ran-san."

"Can I see the Kid card again?"

On the Kid's card it says: I will steal something valuable in the night of your dear sister's school drama. Stop me if you can!. I will come and take something precious from the lonely orchid on the full moon night. O ruler of truth come and stop me! "

"Look, I got a ticket for Ran-neechan's school drama performance from Sonoko-neechan." Conan shows Ran's school drama show ticket.

"Eeeh! That's right ?!"

"Tohto Aquarium! It's not as difficult as under renovation, Conan?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"It's over. There was a carnival attraction, my school drama was held there." Conan answered.

"Your school? I don't know if our school is holding a school drama there." Genta replied.

"AH ... I mean Ran-neechan school ha ha ha"

"Careless basis." Ai murmured softly.

"Then, we just go straight there. When will we play there again, maybe we will meet that beautiful sister again." Invite Genta enthusiastically to make Conan and Ai choke.

"She won't come."

"What do you mean Haibara?"

"She's dead. Actually, the one who saved us is her, but she can't save herself anymore."

"Quiz time!"

.

.

.

Little detectives plus Conan, Ai, and Prof. Agasha went to Tohto Aquarium. They climbed the Ferris wheel and then rode other vehicles in the playground. Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi also played arrows with prizes. They were seen having fun even though before they cried like a baby whose mother left her in the kitchen. The ticket given to the little detective is the pass ticket, Conan of course has given Subaru and Tooru their tickets and saved Shinichi's tickets for himself. They then went to the aquarium there. It was almost time for school drama.

Conan and others rushed to the festival. All levels of the police and even television stations have guarded there. Inspector Nakamori is seen making sure that everyone is even a cat if there is no Kid in disguise. Detective Satou is also not inferior to Inspector Nakamori, although that looks like two detective police officers who are in love.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN PLEASE ENJOY THE SHOW!"

"Inspector, it's Kid!" Shouted one of Inspetur Nakamori's men.

"Don't be fooled, you can be a fake. Keep checking!"

Conan and little detective plus Professor and Haibara rushed backstage where Ran's school drama was staged.

VVV

"Conan-kun, you're here!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry Ran-neechan but I have to go."

Conan and company also continued their search through the ins and outs of the drama stage and even players and costumes but nothing was suspicious. There were no signs of Kid or accomplice's disguise until.

"Mouri! Your husband is coming," said one of Ran's classmates.

"Oi Kudou, you come too"

"AH! That's it!"

Conan immediately approached Shinichi and pinched his cheek tightly, also grabbed his hair but no mask was released.

Genta, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, Haibara, split up. If you find another Kudou Shinichi, he means himself, because the original Kid is here. "Shouted Conan pointed at Shinichi.

"Conan-kun, what do you mean?"

"Yes, boy. He's Kudou, why do you think he's Kid. Eh, but maybe all this time Kudou disappeared because he's a Kid, he could be hiding so he doesn't get caught by the police."

"I know because ..." Conan's words stopped. His throat suddenly itchy.

"This is lozenges."

"Ah, that's candy that Shinichi gave to white day."

Kid blinked his eyes at Conan who put on a disgusting look. There is no other choice but to follow the Kid game. Ran continues to stick to the Kid disguised as Shinichi making Conan hot. Because of his shrinking body, he couldn't get close to Ran like Kid at that time. Like the previous drama Sonoko gave a special role for Shinichi. This time in the drama Shinichi acted as an excellent thief who stole a precious item of princess played by Ran *.

Before Conan could reveal Kid's disguise, suddenly the situation became pitch black. Conan vaguely heard Kid's voice telling him to enjoy the show. Conan tried to chase the origin of the sound but suddenly his body heated up. His heart beat fast. Conditions that are very well known. Conan was forced to retreat and look for a quiet place so no one would see him turn into Shinichi.

Conan was unconscious.

"Oi Kudou! Kudou!"

"Shinichi!"

Conan slowly changed to Shinichi opening his eyes. Strange. Why is he backstage? Moreover, he wears costumes for Drama.

"Kudou, are you okay?" Heiji asked.

"Shinichi, what happened?" Ran asked.

Shinichi held the back of his head. Still sick. Shinichi looked at Ran and rounded his eyes. The full dress of jewel worn by Ran has changed. Shinichi involuntarily pulled Ran's waist so Ran almost fell.

"Wow Kudou I know you are very happy but here is a small child so you-"

"The game is gone. Ah, damn it, Kid must have taken it."

"Huh? What did you say Kudou ?! Are you really alright?"

"Ran's clothes are not used by Ran. The problem is confiscated by Inspector Nakamori."

"Oh."

"OI! THE DRAMA WAS WANT TO BEGIN, THE PLAYERS STAND BY!"

Not in vain Conan memorized the drama script when he became Ran's practice friend at home. Shinichi can't run, Sonoko and Heiji (?) Pull him backstage. Maybe the reasons for both are the same, only to tempt Shinichi and Ran. Kazuha and the little detective chose the seat reserved for them.

(In Teitan High School School Drama **)

"Aah Shamal-sama, why fate always separates us. All we want is to be together forever and walk the same path."

Ran, kneeling, said a prayer by closing his eyes in a special way. Under the background of an altar illuminated by spotlights. The story of the spotlight as the moonlight that illuminated the room where Ran prayed.

Plaque Plaque Plaque

A knight dressed in a white horse said hello to Ran who was praying. That person is Sera who acts as a knight.

"Oh Princess Ran, I came here to fulfill my promise to you."

Ran looked at Sera with an unattractive look. In his heart, he was still waiting for bandits who had stolen his heart, Shamal Shinichi.

"I'm here to marry you, Princess."

"Sorry Sera-sama, but I've chosen someone else."

"But I love you and I will make you happy."

"Stop that, Sera-san!"

"I, Prince Sou, who will marry Ran."

Sonoko who acted as Prince Sou appeared, preventing Sera from taking Princess Ran away. Suddenly the Prince of the neighboring kingdom came, Prince Aki, played by Araide-sensei.

"It's not that easy, you marry Ran. Because of me, Prince Aki, who will make him the wife and queen of the kingdom, has never been broken."

Aki along with his troops also forced Ran to leave.

Amid the turmoil Ran, who was locked up in a room in the Antah kingdom, was sad. A Butler who was somehow played by Inspector Nakamori came with Maid played by Satou-keiji. Ran followed Butler and Maid to the Royal Ballroom Araide.

"You look moody, my lover, Ran-hime. Do you miss me?"

None other than Shinichi who approached Ran invited her to dance. In that scene Shinichi revealed all his feelings to Ran through the waltz. He held Ran's waist, pressed it against his body. Ran was a little surprised but left like that. It was the first time they waltzed. Shinichi then pulled Ran's hand and took him out of the Ballroom. Two of their classmates who acted as Shinichi conspirators played by Takagi-keiji and Heiji. Shinichi and Ran also ride Shinichi's horse. Prince Aki and his Maid and Butler chase after Shinichi and his accomplice.

DASH

The arrow shot away to Shinichi and Ran.

BRAK

The arrow about Shinichi's horse made Shinichi and Ran fall. The two conspirators also blocked Prince Aki along with his Maid and Butler.

"How dare you take away my future wife, bandit!"

"Oh, but he wants to be with me."

"Stop it, Aki-sama. I want to be with Shinichi whatever happens."

TRING

Suddenly Shinichi's body tightened and heated up. He will be Conan again. As if reading Shinichi's mind, suddenly the whole stage even outside the stage was filled with thick smoke. Shinichi took advantage of this opportunity to escape from that place. He ran towards the dressing room. Professor and Haibara are already there.

Shinichi who turned into Conan finally decided to go back to the audience with other little detectives.

"Conan, where have you been?" Genta asked.

"I'm looking for Kid . What about you guys?" Conan answered half lying.

"Hehehe drama Ran-san is too exciting so we ..."

Conan just sighed in relief. Smoke on the stage had disappeared. In the drama scene two Shinichi, Heiji and Takagi-keiji conspirators have disappeared as well as Satou-keiji and Nakamori-keibu. It's true Conan's guess, the two accomplices and Kid, now they are disguised as Araide-sensei and himself.

(In Ran School Drama)

"You're pretty strong too, Prince Aki."

"You're also strong enough, bandits ..."

TRING

"Oh that's dangerous. You can hurt Ran-hime."

"Oh, I can't hurt my future wife."

The sword fighting continued until Sera suddenly kicked them until they were unconscious. The drama closes with Ran and Sera returning to Ran's kingdom and getting married.

The audience also cheered, signaling the drama of great success. Kid have escaped assisted by Conan.

"Haah, in the end we can't catch Kid ." Complained Mitsuhiko.

"Conan-kun, Ai-chan, Genta-kun, Mitsuhiko-kun, Ayumi-chan!" call Ran.

"Where is Agasha-hakase?" Ran asked.

"The professor is in the health room. Well, most want the same as his first love. ' Genta said.

"Professor's first love?"

"Fusae-san."

"Eh! But what-"

"When Fusae san saw hakase she try to talk to him but when she saw us she misunderstood us his grandchildren again and to try to escape but got hurt and Hakase saw her and took her to health room." Said Haibara .

"She has bleeding her arm. His bodyguard asks Professor to look after her in the health room." Ai replied.

"Oh, We just found out."

"Yeah ... they turned out to wait for 40 years ^ *."

"He he he it is like Shinichi-san and Ran-san."

Ran and Conan are blushing to hear Mitsuhiko's words. But if Ran will wait that long, he doesn't want that to happen. He must try hard to destroy the black organization.

"Oi boy! This is a free pass for you. Use it best, don't lose it. Come on Ran, we go too."

"Eh! You don't come with us?"

"Sonoko, we can replace the professor guarding them."

"Ran!"

Sera, Sonoko, Ran, Kazuha, Heiji, and little detective plus Conan and Haibara finally climbed the giant mill with composition: Ran and Conan, Sera and Sonoko and little detective plus Haibara, and Kazuha and Heiji.

"Conan-kun, thank you for seeing my drama." Ran said.

"I'm happy, Ran-neechan, you have met Shinichi-niichan again. '

"Yes."

"What's wrong, you don't look like happy Ran-neechan?"

"No. I only remember Agasha-hakase. I- '

Suddenly Ran cries but immediately gets around. Without thinking Conan stepped down from his chair and hugged Ran tightly.

"Conan-kun?"

"Don't cry, Ran-neechan. Shinichi-niichan will definitely return, after all Shinichi-niichan has been fond of Ran-neechan since he first met. If Shinichi-niichan doesn't come back, I'll replace him."

Ran laughs at Conan, "Thank you Conan-kun, I'm fine now. But what do you mean Shinichi likes me since we were kindergarten?"

CHECKMATE

Conan gasps. Cold sweat. How can he answer that unexpected question?

"Hahaha Conan-kun, you don't need to panic like that. I understand. After all you and Shinichi are very familiar so of course Shinichi said that to you. Sometimes I'm jealous of you, Conan-kun, the problem is that even though I feel more familiar with Shinichi but you seem to understand Shinichi outside inside. " Said Ran looking at Conan with a teasing look that made Conan blush ...

"Maybe because he's an only child so he thinks you are like his own brother. Like Holmes."

"The meaning of Mycroft's brother, he is his brother Sherlock ..."

Conan then chattered about Holmes enthusiastically. Ran just smiled, they were both Holmes maniacs. But at that time Ran didn't hate him. She listens to Conan while occasionally commenting until their turn comes down. After that they spend time in aquariums and games.

"Professor!" Call Ayumi.

"How was your date?" asked Mitsuhiko.

"Ahaha ... what-"

"Aah! That's the latest Fusae product."

"Oh ..."

"Congratulations Professor, waiting is not in vain. Unlike someone." Haibara said, who got your gaze, I mean from Conan.

"So ... what happened?"

"We exchange cellphone numbers and e-mail hehehe ..."

"Haaah? That's all."

"We promised to meet in the same place as our promises."

"Professor ... you're not young anymore ..." Sonoko commented.

"Just leave Professor, Sonoko. That has been an improvement, congratulations Professor."

"Poor professor. You should say your true feelings instead of telling him to wait longer." Mitsuhiko's comment.

"Yeah, you should ask her to marry, aah ... Agasha-hakase is really bad at this matter. Like Conan." Ayumi's comment.

"Sorry" Reply Conan who received a laughter from the little detectives, Ran, Sera, Sonoko, Heiji, and Kazuha.

"Ayumi-chan I want to tell you something" said Conan thinking that he should clarify Ayumi's feeling so that she should be hurt as Ran.

"What you want to say Conan-kun" asked Ayumi thinking has her words affected Conan.

" I want to tell you that I like a girl very much from a long time, she is waiting for my return and I am waiting for Shinichi-niichan so I can return to her as I had promised her . When Shinichi-niichan will return I will return to my home. So I don't want to hurt you feelings because I only see you as friend and a fellow member of Shonen tantei Dan so I am sorry" said Conan.

Ayumi was sad after hearing the words of Conan then she said" its okay Conan-kun . I am happy you told me and what is her name who you like."

"I will tell you that when time will be right" Replied Conan." Then I will try until you have heart change or you tell her name" replied Ayumi.

With shock Conan said " now that is not my none of business".

 _Entry #2_

 _I called Ran yesterday. She acted like everything was fine. We talked for a few minutes before she said that she had to go. I know that this is hurting her but I can't tell her the truth. I feel so dirty for lying to her face but it's the only thing that I could do to protect her. Trust me Ran I always want to tell the truth to you on the first day but my life was disoriented ,I can't see what happen to me, that all happen so suddenly that I lost my senses, I had never lied to you before but when this all is over I will never lie to you._

 _Ever since my body shrunk, I've been living with her and her dad as Conan Edogawa.. But I can't just leave Ran behind. I never realized how much I took her for granted until it was too late. I would give anything to be myself again just so that I can spend one day with her._

 _When I got back to the agency after the phone call, I could tell that Ran has been crying. She always tries to act tough and hardly ever cries in front of me, whether I'm Conan or Shinichi. I know that she cries herself to sleep every night. I wish I could tell her how much I hate it when she cries. The worse part of it all is that I know that I'm the reason for her tears. It's all my fault! I wish everything could go back to the way things used to be…but I ruined everything because of my stupid pride._

 _There were times when I almost told Ran the truth about who I really was. Every time I came close, something stopped me. I still think about telling her but I know that would only put her in more danger. She'd want to help and I can't let her get into something this dangerous! It's all my fault that this happened so I can't let Ran clean up after me. All I want to do is keep her safe, even if it means that I can never return back to normal._

 _Letter 2_

 _Dear Ran,_

 _How have you been? Writing that other letter to you really helped. It is good being able to tell you in a letter, even if you won't receive them. I heard you have a karate tournament in a few days. Good luck, Ran. I know you will smash them. Have you had a busy week? I ran into 4 murders this week and a kidnapping case. Surprise! I found out yesterday that okaa-san called me 'Shin-chan' because I am like a shinigami. It's not my fault bodies seem to drop all around me! Anyway, nothing has come up on the big case I am working on for a while now. I wish it could all be over and done with already. I… I miss you, Ran. I miss being able to go to school and chat and play soccer, solve mysteries without having to worry about hiding or being spotted. I hate myself for making you cry, but I can't let you go through this with me. It is better than what I am going through. At least this way you can keep living normally. I feel so terrible, having to treat you like this. I can't even tell you the reason why to your face. You deserve so much better._

 _I want to tell you why. And even more than that, I want to be able to talk with you and joke around like we used to. But it is hard to do that in a letter. I can ask you as many questions as I want, ask 'how you are going?' or 'how's life?', but I wouldn't be able to get your answer. I wouldn't get to see your reactions to that pun Agasa-hakase made, or how you would react to my jokes. I can only imagine your comebacks. Do you miss that as well? I know you miss me that baka mystery otaku, why else would you cry? But is it just me you miss, or do you miss the time we spent together, and what we did together as well? It is pointless me asking these questions, for I know you can't answer. But one day you will. I swear, Ran, I will never give up fighting, until everything is back to normal. Because I will not fail. I can't fail. I won't say how long it will take, because I don't know. But I will succeed. So believe in me, will you Ran?_

 _Yours Sincerely;_

 _Your baka mystery otaku._

Conan heard the front door of the detective agency open and close. He hurriedly closed his journal and stuffed it underneath his futon. As soon as he had done so, the bedroom door opened and Ran came in with a bunch of bags.

"Conan? What are you doing?" She asked. She didn't know why but she felt as if Conan was keeping something from her. The small boy just smiled.

"Nothing Ran-neechan!" Conan turned up the childish act a few notches. "What did you buy? Is there anything for me?" Ran smiled as she thought that it must have been her imagination. How could she be suspicious of an adorable innocent child!?

"Yep! I got you a puzzle since you seem to like those sorts of things." She pulled out a box from one of the bags and handed it to Conan, who took it with a big smile on his face.

"Thanks Ran-neechan! I'll go play with it now!" Conan exited the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, the smile disappeared. "This puzzle is going to be too easy…" He thought as he looked at the box. The puzzle only had 50 pieces, not even making it a challenge for the shrunken detective.

Ran smiled gently. Sometimes, it seemed that Conan was too mature his age. But even then, he still had his moments when it obvious that he was still just a child. She put her bags away and went into the kitchen to make dinner.

Next day

"Sonoko, you go on ahead. I realized I lost something in the changing room." Ran said as she turned around. Sonoko made a face. "Eh?" Her best friend looked like she was about to cry. And then it hit her. "Something? Do you mean the gift you bought this morning for Shinichi-kun?"

Ran nodded. "Yeah, well then, see you at the gate!" and with that she ran.

"Chotto Ran!" Sonoko called out but her best friend was already out of sight. She sighed. "Mou… why didn't she took care of such important thing?"

"That is the only place I've been after the practice so it must be in there…" Ran whispered to herself as she reached the door to the changing room in the school building's second floor. She panted because of running by the stairs. "I hope it isn't lock yet…"

She twisted the door knob and smiled lightly to find it still open. "Yosh." But then when she opened it wider to go inside, she didn't expect to see someone she knew standing in the middle of the room. It was not that dark yet enough to see the person in front of her. She closed the door with furrowed eyebrows and confused expression.

"Ara? Natsume-san?" Ran called out as she walked further in the room. "What are you still doing here?"

When she was already before her, Ran was confused as to why she wasn't answering her. "Natsume-san?" And as she was reaching her with her right hand, she suddenly felt a pain on her neck as she lost consciousness.

Sonoko sighed for who-knows-how-many yet again. She frowned as she looked at her wrist watch again. "That Ran… how long does she want me to wait for her?"

She was leaning on the school gate's gate, waiting for her friend. "That's it!" She said stomping her feet and walking towards the building. "I'm picking her up!"

She finally reached the changing room her best friend went in to find the gift. "I wonder if she's still looking for it…"

"Ran?" Sonoko called out as she knocked on the door. "Oi Ran! Are you there? It's already late! Let's go home!"

Sonoko noticed that something was off. "What the— Oi Ran~! I'm opening it!"

She did. "Why is it so dark?" She tapped the wall near her to find the switch and finally found it. "If you're searching, you have to open the lights so you—"

Sonoko's eyes widened when the lights opened and lit the once dark room. "W-What? T-This is…"

On the floor, Sonoko saw her best friend, lying flat on her back, her once blue uniform tainted with red blood all over it and in her right hand, laid a dagger. Near Ran's feet lay their schoolmate and a member of the Karate Club, Takahashi Natsume, swimming in her own blood. Sonoko couldn't move. She couldn't believe it. "I-Is this true? R-Ran…"

The subject of her thoughts suddenly moaned in her sleep and finally opened her eyes. She adjusted her sight because of the sudden light and sat up. "Where am I? What happened?"

When she realized what happened and where she was, her eyes wandered around the room. "The changing room…" her gaze lowered and her eyes widened. "Why am I holding something like this? And what's with my uniform?"

"R-Ran…"

She turned around, finding her friend staring at her as if she had seen a ghost. "Sonoko? What happened to me?"

"R-Ran… in front of you…"

"Eh?" she looked before her and her eyes widened as saucers. "N-Natsume-san… n-no…"

She looked at the discarded dagger next to her and to the body of her once friend. "D-Did I…"

Ran held her head with her both hands as she closed her eyes. "No! I didn't do this! I will never do something like this!"

Sonoko took a shaky breath. "Ran…"

"NO!"

"I'm hungry…" the young boy whined as he sighed. This caught the attention of the man sitting on his usual seat in front of his "business" desk.

"Just bear for a while, Ran is probably on her way home." He replied while reading a newspaper with several cans of beer on top of his desk causing the young boy to look at him. "Anyways, get me another can of beer!"

Conan stared at Mouri Kogoro with a disgusted expression. The old man noticed the boy's expression and he stood up from his seat, "What the hell are you looking at?!" He exclaimed drunkenly while pointing at the young boy.

Conan sighed. "But Ojiisan, Ran nee-chan will be mad if she sees you drinking especially when there are so many empty cans on your desk already."

Kogoro smiled teasingly. "Oh? I don't know you're afraid of her."

The young boy frowned and stood up from the couch. "Hai, Hai…" he muttered.

As if you aren't… he thought.

After he had given his uncle a new can of beer, and the said uncle opened the said can and gulped it quickly, Conan went back on his position on the couch and put his arms under his head. It had been his habit even before he became Edogawa Conan. Suddenly, the phone rang. This brought Conan his attention back to his uncle who sloppily answered the phone. "Haiiii~ Mouri Tantei Jimshou~"

Conan stared at Kogoro with bored expression. It must be a client or something…

"Inspector, what is it?"

The inspector? Conan thought. What could have happen?

Conan started to get nervous when it seemed like Kogoro's face has lost his color all of a sudden. He stood up alertly and walked in front of the desk as he observed any reaction from the detective's face. "W-What? That's impossible! She would never do something like that! She's my daughter for goodness' sake!"

Conan's eyes widened with those words. What? Ran? What happened to Ran?

"Hai, we'll be right there!" with that, Kogoro hang up the call. "Ojiisan! Is there something wrong with Ran nee-chan?"

The old man looked serious as if he sobered up, no, as if he didn't drink at all. That made Conan realized that something had happened with his childhood best friend. He lost his patience when Kogoro didn't reply immediately. "Ojiisan!"

"Ran… They said Ran… killed someone from the Karate club." Those words were said in almost a hush voice but then in his line of work, his hearing is very good. But he hoped he hadn't heard those words instead. "W-What?"

Ran? Impossible! She wouldn't… would she? Conan shook his head furiously. What the hell am I thinking? Doubting my own best friend! I'm an idiot!

"Come on Conan!" Kogoro's voice brought him back to reality. He saw his Uncle Kogoro donned his jacket, "We're going."

Conan nodded firmly. Ran maybe became a suspect. If that's the case… he thought as he ran down the stairs with his best friend's father and with a straight and determined face, his 17-year-old mind declared, I will have to prove that Ran is innocent!

"Ran… are you… alright?" Sonoko asked as she sat next to her on a chair. The police arrived a while ago and they were currently investigating the body and the crime scene.

Ran didn't reply. She stayed silent as she gripped her hands tightly on her lap. Her head bowed down and her eyes were covered by her bangs. Sonoko worriedly stared at her.

She wasn't trembling… Sonoko thought with a sigh. What really happened, Ran?

"The victim is Takahashi Natsume. 17 years old. She is a high school student here in Teitan High and a member of the Karate Club. Apparently, she was stabbed by a dagger on her chest causing blood loss and died." Officer Takagi explained as the forensics inspected the body of the victim and took pictures of her.

"Hmm…" Inspector Megure nodded. "So, have you proven it yet? That Ran-kun is…"

Officer Takagi averted his eyes. "H-Hai… Unfortunately, we discovered that the fingerprints from the dagger's handle are Ran-san's. Aside from that, she went in here at 4:30 and the victim was killed five minutes later. Sonoko-san went in search for Ran-san at 5PM. That made Ran-san the only suspect."

"What about the other students?" Inspector Megure asked calmly.

"There are no other students left in the premise sir."

The inspector sighed and nodded. "I see. Then she..." He started as he looked over at the silent lady.

"But sir, you know that she couldn't do it. You knew her ever since she was young right?" Officer Takagi asked, looking over the girl too.

"You're right. Don't worry, the truth will be revealed soon." Takagi nodded. "But for the meantime, we need to talk to her."

"Yes sir!"

They walked over to her silently. Sonoko, noticing them, put a hand on her best friend's shoulder. "Ran…"

The other girl didn't even flinch.

Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi exchanged worried glances. "Ran-kun…"

Upon hearing the inspector's voice, Ran stood up. "You… want to talk to me right?"

"Y-Yes… can you tell us what really happened?"

Ran nodded slowly and followed them out of the room. Sonoko followed suit but stayed outside once they reached the next room for the interrogation.

The only ones in the room are Ran, Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi. Ran sat down on a chair while the two police officers stared down at her.

"Ran-kun, please tell us the truth of what happened."

"I… Sonoko and I… we're on our way home but I realized that I forgot something in the changing room so I asked her to wait for me at the gate and went my way at that room… but…"

"But?"

"When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Natsume-san there, standing still. I called out to her but she didn't even look at me. It made me wonder so I stepped closer to her but before I could do that, someone hit me with a hard object and I fell unconscious. I have no idea what was it though. And then when I woke up, I saw Sonoko looked horrified and when I realized the reason why… I just…"

"That means you didn't do it." Officer Takagi commented with a relieved expression. "That's great."

"But, if what you said is true… then someone tried to frame you up." Inspector Megure said. Ran averted her gaze to the floor. "I guess so."

"How did you realize that this 'something' is missing anyway, Ran-san?"

Ran twitched her eyebrow in thought. "Hmm… I inspected my bag and I realized that it wasn't in there. That thing is important so I need to find it so I went back."

"That means, someone possibly stole it and hid it somewhere…"

Ran nodded.

"Ran-kun, is there someone you knew who might do this… a person who held a grudge against you and the victim?"

The brown haired girl hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Hai."

"Who are they?"

"They are…"

Sonoko looked worriedly at the door of the room her best friend was in. "Ran..."

"Sonoko nee-chan!"

The brown haired girl turned her head to see the brat and the great detective running towards her.

"Where's Ran?" Kogoro asked as he stopped in front of her. Sonoko pointed at the door. "In there."

Kogoro wasted no time and opened the door. "Ran!"

The daughter raised her head to see her father standing at the door. "Otousan?"

"Ran!" he immediately walked over to her and gripped her shoulder. "Are you alright? You aren't hurt, are you?"

Ran stared at her father, wide-eye. "A-Aa… daijoubu…"

Kogoro pulled away and sighed in relief. "That's great. I was worried."

"Gomen."

"Ran nee-chan."

Ran gazed at the kid before her. He looked out of breath like her father. Seems like they both ran in here…

Ran smiled. "Conan-kun, I'm okay. I'm sorry to make you worry."

Conan stared at her for a while before returning the gesture. "Yokatta." Is that really the case? Are you really alright, Ran? He thought as he gazed at her worriedly.

"Anyways, Inspector, can you explain to me the situation?" Kogoro asked seriously. The two police officers were surprised. Even Conan.

Maybe because Ran is involved… Shinichi thought.

"Mouri-san, Ran-san's classmate and member of the Karate Club, Takahashi Natsume-san, was found dead in the changing room." Officer Takagi began. "This isn't even a locked room case so we're considering that it might be an outsider."

"That's right but we couldn't help but think too that someone had framed Ran-kun because the only one inside with the victim is her, who was unconscious, but holding the murder weapon." Inspector Megure finished, earning shocked expressions from his old friend and the young boy with him.

"And Sonoko-kun saw Ran-kun holding the knife used."

Conan and Kogoro turned to Sonoko in shock. "Really?"

Sonoko nodded. "Yeah, I got tired of waiting for Ran so I decided to check up on her. And then when I entered, I found her unconscious and holding the weapon and Natsuki is already dead."

"I see." Kogoro murmured.

Conan's eyes narrowed. If that's the case… what could have— his eyes widened as he thought of something. Wait, could it be— He walked over to Sonoko and grabbed her skirt to get her attention.

"Ne, Sonoko nee-chan."

Sonoko looked at him. "What?"

"When you opened the door and entered, were the lights off?"

The girl pondered. "Now that you mention it, y-yeah… it's off… I opened the lights."

"Hmm… Ne, Ran nee-chan." He turned over to Ran who was next to Sonoko. When she gazed down at him, she smiled. "What is it, Conan-kun?"

"When you went inside the room, what happened? Can you tell me?"

"Sure. Like I told Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi, I went in the room to find something. As I opened the door, I saw Natsume-san standing there. I called out to her but then she didn't answer. And when I was walking towards her, I felt someone hit me from behind. And after that I fell unconscious." Ran sighed tiredly. "I woke up to see Sonoko looking at me like I killed someone." As she said that, she playfully glared at her friend. Sonoko guiltily smiled. "Sorry, I was shocked."

Ran, smiling teasingly, patted her friend at her back. "I'm just kidding! I know you trust me."

"Of course I do. You're my best friend."

"Arigatou, Sonoko."

The two smiled at each other.

"Ran nee-chan, this something you lost…" Ran turned to the boy again. "What is it?"

"Um…" Ran averted her gaze and sighed. "It's something that is very important to me, Conan-kun."

Conan stared at her with slightly wide blue eyes. Ran… He grinned at her brightly. "Don't worry, Ran nee-chan, I'll find it for you!"

Ran, surprised by the kid's declaration, just smiled affectionately and nodded. "Arigatou, Conan-kun."

"Ran, why don't you tell him what that 'thing' is?" Sonoko asked whispering in her friend's ear.

"It's a secret. I don't want Conan to know. He will surely call him about this. This won't be a surprise anymore."

"But if he really found the gift, you would be discovered too."

"No worries, I already wrapped it earlier remember?"

"Oh right."

Conan, meanwhile, was in deep thought. If what Ran had said is true then… this case… His eyes narrowed in all seriousness. …is done to kill the victim and to frame up Ran.

Shinichi bit his lip seriously. But who would do such a thing… and why Ran?

"Do you have other suspects, Inspector?" Kogoro asked.

"Well, we are having Ran-kun tell us who hold a grudge against the victim and her."

"Really? Who are they?"

They all looked at Ran. "Well, there's Nakatsu Momoko-san, Maru Harumi-san, and Narabe Sakura-san."

"What are their relation with you and the victim?" Officer Takagi asked next.

"All of them are members of the Karate Club and close friends with Natsume-san."

"And all three of them hold grudges against Ran!" Sonoko followed up. Kogorou and Conan held confused expressions. "Really, Sonoko nee-chan?"

Sonoko nodded. "They didn't want Ran as the president of the club because they thought that the other students like Ran just because her father is a famous detective."

Silence filled the room. It was deafening and Ran felt obligated to break it. "Uh… it's okay I guess. It's not that it's true anyway."

"That's right! Ran is famous because she's great in Karate." Sonoko said, nodding. Ran smiled but immediately disappeared when the next words went out of her friend's lips. "And because she's the wife of the great high school detective, Kudou Shinichi!"

"Sonoko, I'm not his wife!"

The girl laughed. "I'm just kidding."

"Mou!"

What kind of follow-up is that? Shinichi thought annoyingly. But… He stared up at Ran sympathetically. I never thought Ran is having a hard time too.

"Anyways, Inspector, can you call on those three to come here?" Kogorou asked.

"You're right. Takagi-kun."

Officer Takagi saluted. "Yes sir!" Before he fled from the scene.

"Inspector," Kogoro called. "Is there something else left in the scene?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, the forensics said that there were some bruises on the body."

"Bruises?" Kogoro inquired.

"Yes."

"Where exactly?" Conan asked as innocently as he could.

"It was on the victim's both underarm. That's it."

Conan engaged in his deep thoughts once again. Underarm, huh? Why? What could have caused those bruises?

After a few minutes, they found themselves in the same room as the victim's, the room where the murder happened.

Conan ran towards the body after making sure that the others were busy. He immediately checked the bruises Inspector Megure was talking about a while ago.

"So this is it…" he murmured to himself. "Wait… this is…" Conan smiled. If the trick I am thinking is right, then…

He ran towards the door and inspected the door knob. His eyes sparkled behind his glasses. "I found it." He muttered to himself with his infamous detective smirk. "And another one…" He went out of the room and ran towards the room directly above the girls' locker room which was a storage room. It was dark inside so he opened his clock flashlight and searched for something on the floor.

If I'm right then it must be in here… he suddenly saw something shining next to the window. He crouched down on one knee and held the shining thing on his palm. "This is…"

He smirked.

This is it. I finally found it. A conclusive evidence.

I just need to see the suspects then… he thought confidently. He couldn't help but smile softly. Ran, I'm near to the truth… I will prove your innocence, definitely.

He went out of the storage room and saw a forensic member on his way to check out the evidences found in the murder scene. The little detective went on to him and called him out. "Onii-san!"

The young man looked over at the boy. "Ah, you are the boy with Mouri-san…"

"Hn! Uncle Kogoro asked me to give you this…" he offered the think he just found a while ago. "He said he need you to check it immediately."

The forensic member nodded. "Alright. See you later, kid."

"Hai! Thank you!"

And then, he walked away.

Conan crossed his arms against his chest. He walked in the room where the police and the others were gathered as he think. I wonder when are the suspects will be coming…

His thoughts were interrupted by the loud shuffling of feet just behind the door. It opened and Officer Takagi came in.

"Inspector, the three suspects were here."

"What are we doing here for? And what does he mean by suspects?" one of the three seventeen-year-old students asked.

"I don't have time for this!" the other one said.

"What happened anyway?"

The three girls were surprised to see their captain with her rich spoiled brat friend in the same room.

"Oh, Captain Mouri. They called you too? What is the meaning of this?"

"I…"

"Ladies, Takahashi Natsume-san is murdered right here in this room." Inspector said earning a shriek of "Eehh?!" from the three females.

"What did you say?" a long brown haired with indigo eyes known as Nakatsu Momoko, age 17, inquired in disbelief.

"No way!" Maru Harumi, age 17, said with wide eyes.

"W-What happened to her?" Narabe Sakura, age 17, asked in shocked. They went in the room further and saw the lifeless body of their friend. Their eyes widened even more, if that was even possible.

"N-Natsume…" Harumi whispered.

"W-Who on earth did this?" Sakura asked the police. Momoko then noticed it, their club captain's blood stained uniform. She faced her with raging eyes.

"Mouri Ran… your uniform." She pointed out with gritted teeth. Her two companions looked over and their hands fled to their mouth to stifle a scream. Their club captain's uniform was stained with blood.

"That blood, is that Natsume's?" Momoko asked again. Ran sighed. She could feel that she would explode any minute now.

"Hey, will you calm down?" Kogoro said as he felt that this girl would lunge at Ran if he didn't do something about it.

Conan could tell that this girl, she really hated Ran. Her actions, her eyes, her body movements told him everything. His narrowed eyes stared at her suspiciously.

Momoko stepped forward towards Ran attempted to slap her, if it weren't for Sonoko's sudden intrusion. "What do you think you are doing!" Ran's best friend held Momoko's arms from doing something bad to Ran.

"Let me go! Don't stop me!"

Officer Takagi had interfered and scolded the girl. "This is not the time to fight. We are in a murder scene. Please refrain your actions."

The girl, Momoko, scoffed and went back with the other suspects.

"Now, let's hear your alibis then." Inspector Megure said. "Let's start with Nakatsu-san."

The said lady turned to the Inspector indignantly. "Where were you at 4:30 to 5PM this afternoon?"

"Huh? Are you serious?"

"We were all together in a family restaurant near here. We were there since after practice. I guess that was about 4PM." Narabe Sakura answered.

"Then, all of them have the same alibis?"

"Yes, Inspector." Officer Takagi said. "When I went to get them, the waitress there said that they really went in there at around 4PM."

"Is there someone among them who used the toilet?"

"I did went to the toilet." Harumi commented. "But, it's only for a while." She turned to Sakura. "Sakura took her time though."

"Eh?"

Momoko nodded. "Yeah, we already finished our dessert and you are still in the toilet."

"T-That's because… my stomach went bad. I didn't eat lunch today and I suddenly eat so my stomach acted up. That's it!" she tried to reason.

"Hmm…"

Unknown to the suspects, Conan's eyes were watching every movements they did. He carefully stared at their hands that was waving and making hand gestures. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his lips curved up in a smile.

Finally… I found it. The evidence. He thought to himself. The thing Ran lost is probably with the culprit then… Hmm… Well… Conan looked at Kogoro. Now, I just need to do the usual thing and solve this case.

"That is why we are telling you…" Momoko was saying now. "There's no way that one of us will kill Natsume!"

"That's right! The only one who have the motive to do that is the captain." Sakura exclaimed, pointing to Ran.

"It's unfair! Just because she's a daughter of a detective, she is unsuspicious? This is too unfair!" Harumi added angrily to the police.

Officer Takagi tried to calm them down. "We're not unfair! We already asked Ran-san what happened."

"And you believe her don't you?" Sakura inquired. "But you won't believe us!"

"We never said that we don't believe you. There's a witness about your alibi so…"

"Either way! We are being suspected!" Momoko cried.

"C-Calm down, please!"

Kogoro intended to help Officer Takagi but suddenly, he felt the usual biting feeling on his neck. He spin and landed flat on his butt on a sitting position on a chair prepared by Conan. The table was in front of him. Conan breathed in and said in a loud voice.

"Ah! Ojisan! You already know who the culprit is?"

That exclaim attracted the attention of the suspects, the police and Sonoko and Ran who were in the corner of the room.

"Mouri-kun!"

"Sleeping Kogoro! Finally!" Officer Takagi exclaimed.

"Mouri-kun, do you already…"

"Yes, inspector." Conan replied using Kogoro's voice with his bow tie voice changer. He hid under the table. A blind spot to the people in the room. "I finally know who killed Takahashi Natsume-san, and framed Ran to it."

"Then, Ojisan," Sonoko said. "The culprit is really…"

"Yes, one of the three members of the Karate Club."

The suspects and Ran gasped. The three girls glared at the sleeping detective while Ran stared worriedly at her father. "Otousan…"

"Do you know what you are saying?" Momoko asked. "I told you before. There is no way we could have killed Natsume!"

"And if that's true, how do you think we did it then?"

"Simple. First, the culprit made the victim ingest a sleeping pill, then, she tied the victim's both arms using a long string, a piano string. She made it so the victim look alive and standing still. It was dark in the room so the string wasn't visible to Ran when she came in."

"I see! That is why when I called Natsume-san, she didn't reply to me…" Ran said more than to herself than to the people in the room.

"Yeah."

Sonoko already glared at the three girls.

"Moving on, the victim was still alive when Ran entered the room. The culprit hit Ran with the handle of the broom that she brought out of the janitor's closet so she would lose consciousness and then, the culprit raised Ran's unconscious body, covering her own, and stabbed the victim's chest with Ran's hand. And then, she cut the string and hid it. After that, she suggested hanging out with her friends so all of them would have an alibi."

"Wait!" Momoko cried, stopping the deduction of the detective. "Suggested hanging out…"

"Don't tell me the culprit is…" Harumi said this time in shocked.

"That's right." Conan's glasses sparkled. "The culprit who killed Takahashi Natsume-san is you, Narabe Sakura-san."

All of them gasped and stared at the girl. Sakura had her eyes wide. "W-What are you talking about? There's no way I can kill her!"

"No, you are the only one who can do that." Conan said with Kogoro's voice. "You did it while you said you were going to toilet weren't you?"

"You could have escaped from the emergency exit at the back of the school. The restaurant they were in is near at the back gates."

"Wait a minute." Momoko said again. "Everything you had said will be useless if the Captain hadn't come back here."

"That is why she stole something from Ran, am I right?"

"Stole?"

"Ran came back here to find that certain something. It is important to her." Sonoko said, glancing at her best friend.

"Yeah, she probably knew that the thing Ran bought was important so she used it to her advantage. She stole it and hide it somewhere. She knew Ran would search for it in this room since this is the girl's locker room."

"First you suspect me of murder and now you suspect me of theft too?" Sakura shouted. "If you're so sure about that, why don't you show me an evidence to prove that I am really the culprit?"

"I'll gladly do that then." The detective replied. "Sakura-san, one of your finger on your right hand seem wounded."

Sakura fisted her right hand.

"What?" Inspector Megure asked. Officer Takagi stepped closer to the said girl.

"Excuse me." He said before he forcibly opened her fisted hand. He inspected it and saw a cut on Sakura's thumb and index fingers. "This is… your cut is still fresh."

"Of course, it is from the piano string. She probably cut her fingers while hiding the string."

"Are you saying that I am the culprit just because of this?" Sakura asked, calmly.

"No, there's still a very solid evidence that points to you."

Hearing this, the young girl widened her eyes.

"Conan saw a string earlier in the storage room right above this locker room."

"What?"

"I asked him to give it to the forensic. I think the results should be in now."

A cellphone rang throughout the room.

Inspector Megure answered the phone. "This is Megure." He nodded. "Yes. Yes." His face suddenly turned serious. "I see. Thank you." The inspector turned off his phone and put it back in his chest pocket.

He looked at the girl. "They found a blood from the string."

"I see."

Harumi gaped. "Don't tell me… that is…"

"If we have your cut check, Sakura-san, we will surely prove it… that you are the culprit."

Sakura gritted her teeth.

"There's also your blood on the door knob you know?"

"What?"

Inspector Megure walked towards the door and kneeled. His eyes widened when he saw it. "T-This is…"

Officer Takagi mimicked his actions. "Ah, blood!"

Sakura bit her lip. She was sweating heavily.

"Sakura-san, without realizing it, you left the room with your cut still seeping out blood." The detective stated again. "If we let the forensic checked that out, they will know that it is yours."

Momoko and Harumi stared at her. "Sakura…"

The girl sighed heavily and bowed her head. "Yeah, I did it. I killed her, and framed the captain for it."

The girls gasped in unison.

"You! Why did you do that? You are friends with Takahashi right? And what did Ran ever do to you?" Sonoko asked angrily to her. Sakura's gaze shifted to her.

"You are asking me why?" Sakura asked. "That… that girl… Natsume… she took him away from me!" she yelled. "Because of Natsume, my brother died!"

"Eh?!"

"You didn't know but Natsume and I came from the same middle school. My brother is a year older than me. We are always so close to each other. But, he fell in love with Natsume at first sight. At first, it's okay with me since my brother looked so happy with her. But, Natsume was dating someone behind my brother's back and even showed that boy to him!"

The listeners looked at her in pity.

"I couldn't forgive her. I just couldn't because my brother committed suicide a day after that happened."

"Then why Ran?"

"Because I hated her." Sakura said. "I hated her because everyone liked her so much, it is suffocating. She's kind to everyone, strong in Karate and smart in school. She is also very lucky to be the daughter of a famous detective and a girlfriend of a high school detective with the same status as her father. She is the embodiment of perfectness as stated by Natsume before."

"Just because of that?" Sonoko asked in frustration. "Are you insane?"

"Yeah, I think I really am."

"Sakura-san." Ran's voice lingered in the room. "I don't think you're right." She said.

Conan peeked outside and stared at Ran.

Ran…

"I'm not perfect, just like you think I am." she began. Ran smiled softly. "Actually, I'm not kind. I just understand things that I experienced before. I'm not strong. I always cry whenever I'm sad and when simple things bother me. And I'm not smart. I just study hard like any other students my age."

Sonoko stared at her best friend sadly. "Ran…"

"And I'm not lucky. Because… because of these detective cases… I haven't seen my childhood friend for a while. And it's unlucky of me don't you think?" Ran let out a painful smile. Sakura noticed it and gaped at her. She turned away and sighed.

"I think I'm wrong then." She whispered.

Conan, who heard Ran's speech, gazed downward sadly and guiltily. He didn't want Ran to have that kind of smile, but he couldn't just let out the secrets he hid right? There was no way he was going to jeopardize her safety.

The police handcuffed the young girl as she was being sent out of the room when Conan went out of his hiding and ran towards the culprit.

"Wait! Sakura-san!"

"Conan-kun?" Ran asked. "What's wrong?"

"Ran nee-chan, I think she has the thing you are looking for." The young boy with a mind of seventeen said as he gazed at Sakura again.

"Oh, about that. I put it in my bag. You can get it from there."

Sakura was taken away by the police with Kogoro who had just woken up to testify to the case as always. Sakura's bag was rummaged by Sonoko as the other two girls already got out of the room after apologizing to Ran, who looked surprised but forgave them anyway.

"Ah! I finally found it!" Sonoko exclaimed happily and gave it to her friend. "Ran, here."

"Thanks Sonoko." Ran smiled softly as she stared at the small box wrapped in a blue colored wrapper with a red ribbon attached to it.

Conan, curious of the wrapped box, asked his 'Ran nee-chan' innocently.

"Ran nee-chan… is it a gift for someone?"

Sonoko scoffed at the young boy. "Eh… you want to know…?"

"Well… hai…"

Ran smiled and crouched down to the boy's level. "Conan-kun, I'm sorry but I can't tell you. I'm sure you'll know very soon."

"Ehhh… It's okay then." He replied.

The girls talked to each other while walking out of the room. He could hear something about hurrying to go home to change clothes. But, it was the least of his concerns.

He wanted to know what that gift was for.

She said it was important to her. Then, maybe it was a gift for someone.

Conan sat on the passenger seat next to Officer Takagi as he drove them to their house. Sonoko chatted animatedly with Ran as if nothing happened from the back seat.

Who could have give that gift to her? And what could it be?

His eyes widened in worry.

Don't tell me it was a ring of some sort!

Ah, no. no. That's impossible. There's no way I wouldn't know something important like that if there is really anyone who is courting Ran.

But what could that box be?!

He was unconsciously rubbing his hair and Officer Takagi looked at him strangely. "Conan-kun?"

Mou! I need to know what that is and where it came from! He thought determinedly.

Arriving at the Mouri Detective Agency, Ran immediately took a shower to get rid of the blood on her. It was traumatizing to say the least. She didn't want anyone to worry but it bothered her. She couldn't think of something a while ago because the smell of Natsume's blood was lingering in her nose and other senses.

It was disturbing.

She sighed and decided to send the gift to Shinichi soon. She planned to surprise him.

Though, she was wondering if he already knew what happened earlier. Knowing Conan-kun, she was sure he already told his 'Shinichi nii-chan' what happened to 'Ran nee-chan'.

It was quite fascinating and amusing knowing that Conan and Shinichi were that close. But, it was also bothering that Conan was telling Shinichi things about her. Maybe that was the reason why Shinichi knew everything that was happening around her.

She sat on her seat in front of her table. She just finished dressing up in her pajamas and stared at the picture frame on her study table. She couldn't help but smile. It was a picture of them on the day before he disappeared for a case she didn't even know.

She sighed. Few second later she hear similar voice calling her with worry expression "Ran-neechan". Yes Conan-kun replied Ran.

"are you sad for today" asked Conan with his innocent voice. No nodded Ran not trying to make Conan worried. "are you trying to lie Ran-neechan " asked Conan. As usual she cannot escaped from him just like Shinichi.

" I did not understand why people wanted kill each other for silly reason." Suddenly she realized Conan expression so she want to change topic and said " don't worry Conan-kun I will be fine as soon as I will rest".

Without thinking Conan just hugged her tightly and said " you are right Ran-neechan, this world is cruel but you are kind and innocent so you should not worry and never change "

You know Conan-kun, you know when I needed comfort and how to comfort me even Shinichi is not here but you are always here to protect , to comfort me. Thank you and you also never change.

"thank you Ran-neechan, I assure I will never change and thanks again".

"thanks for what Conan-kun" asked Ran. While blushing Conan said " for your smile I was waiting for that only". As soon he finished he ran off and Ran was stunned by his reply.

She smiled again but it faded as she started thinking about was worried that he might be getting in dangerous cases so she bought that gift for him.

Her thoughts were disturbed when her phone rang. She looked on her phone's caller id and saw his name. She was surprised that he called. She wondered why.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"Ran. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Shinichi. Why do you ask?"

Conan stood behind the wall outside of the Detective Agency. "Conan called me a while ago and told me everything that happened today."

Ran smiled. "I thought so."

Conan, with his original voice as Shinichi, asked in wonder. "Eh?"

"I thought so that Conan-kun will tell you about it."

"Ah, that kid is worried about you."

"I know. Conan-kun has always been like that." Ran smiled. "Even though I don't want to worry him so much."

"But, as always as expected of your father. He solved that case and prove your innocence."

"Hmm… you're right." Ran's voice lowered.

"Ran?" Shinichi worriedly called out. "Are you really alright?"

The brown haired girl giggled. "What is this? Shinichi is worried about me…!"

"B-Barou! Of course I'll worry!" he said back. "You are my childhood best friend."

"Shinichi…" Ran was touched and happy.

"W-Well… if you are alright then, it's good."

"Hm… thank you, Shinichi, for calling me."

"No, I planned to call you anyway." He said. "It's just that the kid told me what happened."

"I see."

"Well, I need to go now."

"Ah, wait Shinichi."

"Huh?"

"I… do you have time to go to your house tomorrow?"

"Why?"

"Well… I want to give you something. I'll give it to Professor, okay?"

"I'll try making time, I guess."

Ran smiled brightly over the phone. "You have to get it okay?"

"I said I'll try."

She pouted. "Shinichi…"

"I'll call you when I got it, is that enough?"

"Hmm… see you later. Don't get yourself in danger okay?" she said, in a motherly voice.

"Hai hai. I know." He said. "Good night, Ran."

"Hn, good night, Shinichi."

They both hung up and sighed.

As Conan walked up the stairs, he wondered what Ran would give him. And then, the box came to his mind. His eyes widened.

Don't tell me…

The next day, Conan went to the Professor's house with Haibara after class from Teitan Elementary. He had told her what happened the day before.

"Eh… then, you solved the case and prove her innocence?" Haibara Ai smiled mischievously. "As expected from her boyfriend."

Conan glared at her shortly and said, "Shut up."

The brown haired girl smirked. "Then, she's going to give something to Kudo-kun and asked him to give to get it from Professor?"

"Will you stop saying it like it's not for me?"

"Well… I guess it's not technically for you, is it not?"

"Haibara, you…"

She firmly smirked and smiled.

They finally arrived and the Professor welcomed them. "Oh, Shinichi, good timing. Ran-kun just left."

"Ah, so, what is it, Professor?"

Professor Agasa offered the blue box to him. "Here."

"Oh, so this is the important thing from yesterday…" Haibara asked amusingly.

"Yeah."

"Why don't you open it?" she asked. "It is bothering you since yesterday right?"

Conan and also Shinichi tore the wrapper open and opened the box. He was surprised. Inside was a small red charm, almost identical to Kazuha's and Hattori's charm. But when he felt something inside the charm, he opened it and his eyes widened.

"This is…"

"A silver necklace?" the Professor asked.

"Yeah," Shinichi replied. He stared at the dangling pendant facing him. "With a star pendant."

"Hey," Haibara said as she pointed towards the charm. "There's a piece of paper poking out of the charm."

Conan got it out and read it.

"Shinichi, I hope you like my gift for you. I am worried that you are getting in dangerous cases. I feel like I need to do something but without knowing anything, I can't help you. So, when I saw this necklace, I immediately thought of you. Because, just like a star, I want to watch over you. Even though we are apart, as long as you have this with you, it will guide you. Just think of it as a part of me! Well then, take care, detective freak! I hope to see you soon. –Ran ."

"She really cares about you, Kudo-kun." Haibara suddenly said.

"Ah, I know that." Conan stared at the necklace once again.

Ran…

"Kudo-kun, I thought you are going to call her…"

"Ah, that's right. Well, I'm going now. Thank you, Professor, Haibara. See you." He said as he ran out of the house.

The brown haired girl shook her head with a soft smile. The Professor just grinned knowingly.

Ran was cooking for their dinner when her phone rang. She answered it without looking at the caller id since she was busy cooking.

"Hello?"

"Um… Ran…"

"Shinichi?"

"Yeah…"

"Have you gotten it yet?"

"Yeah, I already have it actually."

"So, do you like it?"

"Y-Yeah…" Shinichi blushed and said with a shy voice. "T-Thank you."

"It's nothing."

"Ran?"

"Hmm?"

"You know, even though I'm not with you right now, when everything is over, I'll go back. I promise you that."

"Yeah, and I promise that I will wait for you to welcome you back."

"Ran..."

"Shinichi, I'm in the middle of cooking dinner. I need to hung up now."

"Ah, sorry! I didn't know."

"No, it's okay." She said. "Then, see you."

"Hm… thanks again, Ran."

Ran nodded and replied with a "Hn."

They both hung up and Ran went back to her cooking while thinking of her favorite high school detective. And then, suddenly, a voice yelled out from the door. "Tadaima!"

"Okaeri, Conan-kun!" Ran replied happily from the kitchen. Conan went inside to see her smiling brightly.

"Did something happened, Ran nee-chan? You looked happy today." The boy asked.

"Eh? Really? You can tell?"

"Hn!"

"You know, Shinichi got my gift and he said he liked it."

"Ehhh~ then, the box from yesterday's case is…"

"Hn, it's a gift I bought for Shinichi."

"Sou nanda." Conan said. "Yokatta ne, Ran nee-chan."

Ran nodded with a grin. "Hn, I'm glad."

The brown haired teen went back to cooking as Conan stared at her from behind.

He smiled fondly.

Ran… I promise I'll come back as Kudo Shinichi and always protect you and make you happy. I promise you.

"Conan-kun?"

"Hm?"

"Taste this, will you?"

"Ah, Hai…"

Ran offered the spoon to his mouth and the boy let the taste lingered in his tongue. "It's good, Ran nee-chan."

"Really?" she asked and did taste it with the same spoon. Conan blushed madly when he realized what just happened.

I-Indirect kiss! His mind screamed frantically.

Ran noticed the little boy's red face and asked, "Conan-kun, are you alright? Your face is red. Are you getting a fever?" she attempted to put her forehead on his but he took a step back.

"N-No, I'm okay!" he giggled awkwardly.

"Really?"

"Hn! Really!" he ran away from the kitchen and to his room.

"W-Wait! Conan-kun!"

Noooo~ my mind can't take too much of this anymore! I want to return back to my body soon because if Ran discovered I'm Shinichi, she will castrate me! And I don't want to die just yet!

 _Entry #3_

 _I am so tired of keeping up this charade! I feel like my whole life is nothing but a big lie! I don't know what to do anymore! I actually fell asleep in school yesterday! Not that it really matters because I already learned all of that stuff 10 years ago but it was still embarrassing._

 _Ran took me shopping and insisted that I try on a whole bunch of kiddie clothes. She even took pictures! How long am I going to have to live this lie! It's super tiring to act like a child all the time! I wish that I could just stop. Sometimes, I get so caught up in my acting that I forget who I really am! I just want to wake up from this nightmare!_

 _Hattori and Kazuha are visiting later this weekend. I have to admit, it's going to be nice to have someone to talk to, even if it is just Hattori. He may be a hot-head but he's pretty dependable. Not to mention a pretty good detective. He even found out who I really was! Of course, I'm still a better detective than him any day!_

 _Letter 3_

 _Dear Ran,_

 _How has your week been? I saw you and Sonoko shopping for clothes from a café window. I was so glad to see you still being able to smile and be happy. At least my stupid idea of staying away to keep you safe and happy has worked. Even though you can keep yourself safe, I doubt you would be able to stay as happy and carefree as you are now if you knew the truth. I have a hard enough time keeping my own spirits up. I shouldn't keep watching you, as it breaks me inside, not being able to go up to you and just stay 'hi'. It would be better for me to go to America with my parents, but I can't bear to leave you. Which is sort of stupid when I think about it, I can't talk to you when I am near you anyway, and being near you but not being able to reach you is probably doing myself more harm than good. I wonder if you have ever seen me, on those rare moments when I watch you._

 _For what it's worth, I am truly sorry Ran. If I hadn't been a massive baro we wouldn't even have to be going through this. Just because I couldn't leave one mystery alone for a night and stay with you. That saying is true, you know. 'You don't know what you've got until it's gone.' I certainly didn't appreciate half the stuff I could do before this case. It's the really simple things no-one thinks about, like chatting with you about how annoying Yamada-sensei is when he gives us a tone of science homework. Like being able to solve a case without worrying about being discovered, and having to stay continuously in hiding. It's frustrating. I' m not in control of anything, not even the investigation. It seems like every lead I get is destroyed. For once, Ran, I feel like even I can't do this completely alone. But don't worry, Ran. I am not alone, not anymore, and for the first time in this long battle, I feel like I have a decent chance._

 _Until next ,_

 _Your Shinichi_

 _I never think I said it clearly, so if you didn't completely get what I meant in London, or didn't really believe it fully, I will say it here. It is easier to write than say anyway…_

 _I like you, Ran. More than just a best friend. I can't know exactly what you are feeling, but I will try my hardest to make you happy, even if that means I have to stay away for a while. I promise I will tell you everything once it is all over, and the threat looming over me is gone. Stay safe, from your Shinichi._

"Conan! Your friends are here!" He heard Ran yell from the living room. He slid the journal back underneath his mattress and sighed. He felt so worn out lately, even Ran had noticed. "Conan seems almost depressed lately. I wonder if he's okay." She had tried talking to him but he would just smile bigger, as if nothing was wrong. She decided to call Hattori to see if he could figure out what was wrong but he wouldn't be able to come down until tomorrow.

Conan ran into the living room and saw the Detective Boys waiting impatiently. "C'mon Conan!" Ayumi said cheerfully. She pulled Conan after her, which only made Mitsuhiko and Genta jealous. Ran saw the worn-out expression on Conan's face, even though he was smiling.

Ran waved goodbye as the Detective Boys left. She hoped that playing with his friends would make Conan feel better. She noticed something red on the ground. She picked it up and saw that it was Conan's bow tie. "He must have dropped it when Ayumi dragged him after her." Ran unconsciously flipped it over and saw a few dials and what looked like a mic . "What the hell is this!?" She slowly brought it to her mouth as she spoke into it. What she heard was Shinichi's voice. "Why does Conan have something like this!? I've never seen him use it before! And why is it set to Shinichi's voice!?" Ran felt like she wanted to cry. "Who exactly are you, Conan?"

"Hey Kudo!" Heiji Hattori called cheerfully from where he was waiting with Kazuha. Conan immediately ran over to Heiji with a panicked looked on his face.

"Kudo isn't here, Heiji!" Kazuha yelled at him. Heiji yelled back.

"I said 'kiddo', not Kudo! Ya must have heard wrong!" Heiji put his hand on Conan's head. "Isn't that right, Conan?" Conan nodded, smiling.

"No…he definitely said 'Kudo'…could Conan really be…but how is that even possible?" Ran thought. She saw Conan pull Heiji away for a moment. She decided that her past straightforward observation wasn't going to work this time. She needed evidence before she was going to accuse Conan of being Shinichi again. "But there's no way that Conan could be Shinichi! What if I'm reading too much into this?" She almost didn't hear what Kazuha was saying to her.

"Hey Ran? I was wondering" if we could go shopping today? We could ditch the boys." She smiled. "I know that ya called Heiji here for Conan's sake. We should let 'em be." Ran nodded. She must have been reading too much into the situation. People don't just turn into kids! But Ran still felt like something big was bothering Conan. It was probably best to leave him and Heiji alone for a while.

Meanwhile

"Why are you always doing that, Hattori!? Do you want Ran to kill me or something!?" Heiji just laughed nervously.

"It's not my fault! It slipped out on accident!" Conan sighed. There was no point in arguing with the Osakan. Plus, even though Conan wouldn't admit it, Heiji's annoying habit of calling him by his real name made him feel like himself, even if it was just for a moment.

"Why are you here anyway? It's not a big case, is it?" Conan looked Heiji in the eye.

"Actually we're here 'cuz Ran called me." Conan couldn't hide his shock. "Yep! Apparently, ya have been pretty depressed and she wanted me to come down and talk to ya since ya look up to me." Heiji grinned smugly. He just couldn't resist the urge to rub it in the shrunken detective's face.

Conan looked at his western counterpart, annoyed. "Well I'm perfectly fine so your job is done. Have a nice trip back to Osaka."

"Hey! The least ya could do is take me somewhere to eat! Besides, we both know that that's a lie!"

"God, he's persistent!" Conan thought as he sighed loudly. "Fine. You want to know what's wrong!? I'm stuck as a stinking kid! It's a living nightmare!"

"K-Kudo…" Heiji blinked. He wasn't expecting the shrunken detective to break like that. He picked up the half-pint teen.

"H-Hattori!? What are you doing!?" Conan cried out.

"I came all the way to Tokyo so I'm gonna treat ya to some food! No buts!"

"Oi, oi! Shouldn't I be the one paying?" Conan thought. Still, he had to admit, the hot-headed Osakan knew exactly how to take his mind off of things. "Thanks Hattori."

 _Entry #4_

 _I can't believe that I snapped at Hattori like that! I used to be so calm and collected all the time, no matter what the situation was! Guess that just shows how big I messed up. Hattori thinks that I should tell Ran the truth. I'm starting to think that maybe he might be right. I'm already putting her in danger just by staying near her._

 _Ran's been acting weird. She might be suspicious of me again. This might be the perfect chance to tell her who I really am. But what if she's not really suspicious? Is it really okay to tell her? Haibara would kill me if I told her, though. There's more than my life at stake here. I have to remember that. As much as I want to tell Ran the truth, wipe away her tears, comfort her…I can't. Not right now._

 _Maybe I'll tell her the truth someday. When this is all over and I'm back in my original body. Maybe then I'll tell her how sorry I am for doing this to her. For making her wait for me all this time. I don't know if you'll ever be able to forgive me. I'm sorry Ran. You're going to have to wait a little bit longer!. But Ran you should know I never wanted to lie to you. I know you will feel betrayed whenever you came to know the truth. I don't want to live like this treated like a child , hit by your father or everytime invading your privacy while talking to Sonoko but I really don't want to do this. I like to shout my real name and it would take much to reveal my identity to police and everyone about me and them. I don't care about my life I would like to die rather to live like this but if I reveal everyone connected to me will be in great danger because they never suspect anyone , they immediately erase it if they think it as threat to them. that's why I have lie to everyone._

 _Letter 4_

 _Dear Ran,_

 _You had your karate competition sometime last day, didn't you? How did you go? I bet you sent them all crying. How has your week been? It has been a very long week for me with little sleep. Even as I write this I feel like a zombie. I wish everyone could have at least one crime-free week. Maybe if I went to Australia things would be different. You would join me on my adventure, right Ran? It gets so tiring, not having any breaks form solving each crime. Everywhere I go something happens. It seems as though people are begging for their crimes to be seen and to be solved, doing it in front of me all the time. I can't help it. I should get you to teach me karate, Ran. Soccer skills are great and all, but karate looks cooler. I haven't seen you with Sonoko this week. It's a shame; she always gets you to try on cute clothes. I mean, you are always happier around her, and you smile more. I love really like your smile. The world seems to brighten whenever you smile._

 _I feel so stupid, writing to you like this, knowing that you may never get these letters. I should have a little courage and tell you. I can be such a baka sometimes. I always make excuses, like 'I can't risk anyone seeing me' and 'If I do tell you you'll karate chop me through the wall, I value my life!', and although the lasts reason is pretty solid, you deserve better than what I am doing to you now, even if it is the only way. So I will continue being this stupid baka, going against the truth I so strongly believe in to protect the person I love treasure value need, argh I need to just write it! As I was saying, the person I need and love the most. At least, until I can think of a better way. So forgive, would you Ran? And stay safe. I don't think I could go on in life if something happened to you. I will watch out for the dangers you can't see, and I will always watch your back. So wait for me, would you Ran?_

 _Love your Shinichi_

6:00 pm

"Hey Ran, are you sure this is a shortcut?" Kogoro Mouri said while driving on a road; two sides are full of thick dark woods. The rough road made the car shake.

"But the map says it was this way…" Ran said from the back seat, holding a map.

"Oji-san there is a main road ahead" Conan Edogawa that sitting beside Ran said and pointing forward to the main road. *cough**cough* He coughed, hands to his mouth.

"Brat, why not just stay at home?"

"Dad, we can't leave him at home alone, Agasa-hakase goes camping with the children."

Kogoro sigh when a car arrives to the main road.

"Damn this road is so dark and it's raining, why the party in a place like this!"

"If Yoko-chan doesn't come, you better pay for this!"

1 hours ago

"Alright everyone! Now all the racehorses are out running! They now run to the first corner, 'Caminari-Boy' will be the champion in the third season or not?"

Kogoro is watching a horse racing on the TV intently. His hair is a mess, Newspaper in one hand and pencil stick on his ear.

Ring ring ring!

The telephone rang.

"Ran, answer the phone for me, I'm busy." Kogoro said

Ran that was cleaning the dust on the table, turned to Kogoro and give him an angry look. "Answer.. It..Yourself" she said slowly.

He saw it, then said "Fine" and pick up the phone "Moshi moshi Kogoro Mouri speaking…a party? I'm sorry but I'm busy at the moment…"

Suddenly, his expression changed "What? Yoko-chan will be there too? Yes ,yes! Where? When?" Kogoro picked up the pencil and write the appointment time on paper, "Yes, thank you" then he hangs up.

"What is it?" Conan asked

"He called to invite us to the 20th anniversary party of 'The Way' magazine tonight at 'Dawn of Hope' mansion and Yoko-chan will be there too! Yoko-chan! Yoko-chan!" Kogoro said "Ran, prepare the dress for me."

"Hai"

1 hour ago

"Oji-san are you ready? Conan asked Kogoro, who is dressed up in front of the mirror in the bathroom.

"You don't forget anything?" Kogoro asked

"Hai"

"What about Ran?" He asked and walked out of the bathroom.

"She's sitting on the sofa over there" Conan said and point at the sofa.

While Ran is waiting for her father, she fell asleep and dreamed about when she went to Tropical Land with Shinichi…

After the two teens finished watching the fountain, they sat on a bench and drinking cola.

"Ne, Shinichi" Ran said

"What?" Shinichi turned to look at her face.

"Can I ask you a question?

"What is it?"

"Hypothetically speaking, if you see the bomb, what you will do ?"

"Um" Shinichi turns his face upwards, thinking "Well, we first move from people reach and make sure no one come around it until police arrive" Shinichi explained

"Come on, I just assume that if nowhere to run, so what should I do" Ran asked, curious.

"just make sure you tell me where are you and rest leave it to me" Replied Shinichi.

Ran listened patiently.

"Ran Oi Ran" Kogoro shakes Ran "It's time to go"

She awoke and got up slowly.

"Ran-neechan, what's wrong? Your face is all red." Conan asked, he noticed that she is blushing.

"Ah, nothing" Ran said, smile knowingly and walk away. "Nothing at all"

Conan looked at her, confused.

"We aren't there yet?" Kogoro asked while still driving.

"We are almost there" Ran answered.

"Wait, there is someone there" He said when he saw someone on the side of the road.

"Their car may be broken down" Conan says, *cough**cough* then slide a cold mask to his mouth.

"Don't speak too much, Conan-kun, or you'll lose your voice" Ran said, he nod. "Oh I just remembered, hakase told shinichi niichan asked him to give 'this brooch to you" and take the brooch out of her shirt pocket.

"Can you keep it?

"Of course" Then she put the brooch on her dress.

Kogoro parked the car next to the two women, he scrolls a windshield down. "What happened to your car, beautiful young ladies?"

"Our car ran out of fuel" One of the women said.

"We are going to the 'Dawn of Hope' mansion. You're going there too, right? Can we go with you?" Another woman said.

"Of course" Kogoro said willingly.

"Thank you very much" They said at the same time, close their umbrellas and sit in the car. One at a seat beside Kogoro, another in a backseat beside Ran.

The drive continued.

"Excuse me, but are you The 'Sleeping Kogoro'? A woman beside Kogoro asked.

"Yes, I'm the famous detective Kogoro Mouri, one and only." He said confidently.

"Wow, awesome!" Woman in the back seat said "We are freelance journalists, my name is Narumi Daito."

"And I'm Kaaka Omotani" Woman beside Kogoro said.

"Nice to meet you" Speak at the same time.

"Nice to meet you, too" Kogoro replied. "Sitting behind me is my daughter, Ran Mouri."

"Nice to meet you" Ran said and smiles at Narumi and Kaaka.

"And that is Conan Edogawa,"

"Nice to meet you"

"A freeloader" Kogoro finished. Conan stares at him, annoyed.

"Conan-kun, you catch a cold?" Kaaka asked because she saw that Conan wore a mask.

"Ah, yes"

"I had a cold medicine, take this and you will feel better." She said and hand him a medicine that was in her handbag.

Conan thanked her and takes the medicine.

"Your necklace really suits you" Kogoro said when he saw Kaaka's bead necklace.

"Thank you" Kaaka reach her hand to touch the necklace, but pulled back immediately. "It was a keepsake of someone important to me"

"We're here" Kogoro said and drove into the parking lot.

After that, everyone gets out of a car.

"Wow, this mansion is so big!" Ran walk to the front of the mansion and amazed at the vastness of it.

"And there're so many people, we almost not have a place to park our car."

"Let's enter" Narumi said and walking to the mansion's front door.

"Welcome, you are Kogoro Mouri, right?" The receptionist asked.

"Yes" Kogoro replied.

"Excuse me" The receptionist attached a flower shaped brooch to Kogoro and the others.

"Come in" Another staff then take them to the food table in front of the stage. There are many people in the room, sitting at round tables that were provided.

"Your food is on the way, please wait here a moment." The waitress said, at the same time another waitress with a drink cart walked to their table.

"What would you like to drink?"

"A beer, please" Kogoro said.

"I'll have an orange juice, please" Ran said and turned to ask Conan. "Orange juice, Conan-kun?"

"I'll have lemonade instead, thanks Ran-neechan"

"Huh? Dad, what are you looking at?" She asked Kogoro when she saw her father keep staring at a woman's back that sitting two tables away.

"She is awfully familiar" Kogoro said, still staring her.

"Who is it?" Ran asked.

"Just forget it"

"Dad, s-she's standing up and walking to us" Ran said when she saw the woman walking to her.

When she walked closer to her, Ran gasped."M-mom?"

"Your mother?" Kogoro turned around, surprised to see Eri Kisaki standing behind him.

"What are you doing here?!" He asked.

"What about you? Why are you here?"

"Who is she?" Narumi asked Ran.

"Um…" She doesn't know what to say…

"The great detective like me was always invited to the big party, you know?"

"You? The great detective? You are just a pervert old man!"

"Grr! What are you doing here anyway?" Kogoro asked angrily.

"I'm Hirata Banba's lawyer; he is the chief editor of 'The Way' magazine and the host of this party."

At that moment a man sitting at the same table as Eri get up and walk in.

"What's the matter? Kisaki-san?" Takuro Shigematsu asked Eri.

"Nothing, just a pervert old man here..." She said and glared at Kogoro.

"Who is he?"

"Huh? How can you not know him?! His name is Takuro Shigematsu; 'The Way' magazine's chief designer."

"Nice to meet you" Takuro said.

Then Narumi stands up and said. "Oh, I got it! You and Mouri-san are husband and wife, right?"

"Uh..w-we.."

"But we lived separately for a long time now." Kogoro cut her off, anger appeared on Eri's face.

"Let's get out of here, Shigematsu-san, if I stay here much longer, I would go crazy." And walk back to her table.

"Excuse me" Takuro said and followed Eri.

'Oi, these two' Conan thought.

After that, Kogoro go back to his seat and everyone is now eating…

"Hello, Mouri-san" Yoko Okino greeted Kogoro.

"Ah! Yoko-chan" He stands up immediately. "I want to see you so badly."

"I hope no murder happen this time…" Yoko said.

"Don't say bad omen like that." Kogoro said and Yoko smiled. "Who with you?"

"She is my colleague, her name is Kimie Minamisato" Yoko introduced.

"I'm the great detective Kogoro Mouri , there're no cases I can't solve! Ha ha ha" Kogoro said, laughing.

Eri's eyebrows are now twitching with frustration.

"I'll take my leave now" Kimie said and smiled to Kogoro.

"Of course" Kogoro replied.

"Excuse me I need to go to the restroom." Kaaka said and get up from her seat.

Shortly after that, the chief editor Hirata and his group come to greet their guests' table by table until they arrive at the table that Kogoro and everyone are sitting.

"Welcome, Mouri-san, I'm glad you accept my invitation" He greeted.

"Hello, I'm Toshimi Anako from the editorial department." Toshimi said.

"I'm Ryoji Kawashima, a photographer." Ryoji introduced himself.

"I'm Kaede Mioya, also a photographer." Kaede said.

"Nice to meet you" Kogoro replied.

At the time, Kaaka came back. "Hello everyone" She said.

"I'll be on my way then" Chief editor Hirata said and whisper to Kogoro. "Mouri-san, please come to my room, I have something I want to show you."

"Hai"

"By the way, where is Reiko-san?" Narumi asked. "I can't see her anywhere."

"Who?" Ran asked.

"Reiko Shinko-san, she is one of the editors." Narumi answered.

"She said that she isn't feeling well and stay in her room." Ryoji said.

"Excuse me" then Hirata and Kogoro walk to Hirata's room.

"Ran-neechan, I will go to the toilet." Conan told Ran and follow Kogoro quietly.

Before Kogoro go to Hirata's room, Conan Bugged him and now he is listening to their conversation in front of the door.

"Here" Hirata seems to give something to Kogoro.

"Is this threatening letter?" Kogoro's voice asked.

"Y-Yes"

"If you don't cancel this party, I will blow this place to bits"

"Did you call the police yet?"

"No, I didn't. I thought it was just a prank"

"If you think it was just a prank, then why you show it to me?"

"I'm not sure if it was a prank or not and I don't want to cause a commotion."

'Bomb, huh?' Conan thought.

While he is listening to their conversation, there is staff look suspicious with a cart with white cloth covered it. While the staff wore a cold mask, he/she passed the door and turned to enter the room, Conan studied the staff with curiosity.

But he has to go back to Ran now because he knows that Kogoro will come out soon.

When Conan's back at the table, Ran asked "Why took so long? Or you're running off somewhere again?"

"A little bit, he he" He laughed dryly.

"By the way, where did Mouri-san go?" Kaaka asked Ran.

"I don't know, maybe he goes flirting with pretty girls somewhere…"

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the 20th anniversary party of 'The Way' magazine officially!" The announcement came from the stage, everyone turn to look.

Meanwhile, Kogoro walked back to the table. All of the sudden, the lights in the room dimmed and there is a spotlight shined at the center of the stage.

"Please give a round of applause to welcome our host of this party; Hirata Banba-san, please proceed onto the stage to deliver an opening remark."

Everyone clapped their hands when Hirata-san walked onto the stage.

"Kaaka-chan, let's go to the front!" Narumi said and picked the camera out from her bag.

"Excuse me." Kaaka informed Ran.

"Go on, take your time." Ran replied.

"Ladies and gentlemen" Hirata announced. "Our magazine won't have today, If the lack of our supporter; Masao Hiroaki-san!"

Masao, who is sitting at the table stands up, the spotlight moved to shines at him. Everyone applauded while Conan looked at him with boredom.

"And another supporter, the former actress; Tomoko Funaki-san, she also volunteered to be the first model of taking up in a magazine cover!" Hirata continued. Everyone applauded again with Tomoko that come on stage.

"And this is our working group; the first is Toshimi Anako-san!" Toshimi who is standing on the stage bowed. "She is a pretty editor who just came to work with us recently, but she is hardworking person and pushed our magazine forward, to be known by many people…" Conan looked at the stage, left hand to his chin and made a face that can be said 'I'm bored to death right now!'

"…Next is our photographers! Ryoji Kawashima-san and Kaede Mioya-san! And the last one we can't be missed! Takuro Shigematsu-san, our chief designer!"

Each person mentioned walk up on stage and bow to greet the guests.

"Actually, there is Reiko Shinjo-san; our editor, but she's not feeling well right now and didn't show up since the evening. Anyway, she is a person who worked with us for a long time and…"

And this extremely boring opening remark goes on and on…until-

"And now, we will proceed to cut the cake to celebrate the 20th anniversary of 'The Way' magazine!" Two staffs helped push the cake out to middle of the room, many guests astonished by what they saw in front of them.

"This is a layer cake that was especially made for this party; 5 layer with the 1 meter diameter in the first layer and each layer high 150 cm."

"Wow" Ran exclaimed. "I wish I can have a wedding cake like that."

Conan looks at her and smiles.

"What are you talking about? I don't want you to be a bride yet." Kogoro said.

"Hirata-san, please proceed with cutting the cake" The announcer said and one of the staffs hand him a cake knife approximately 60 cm long.

He carefully cut the cake from the middle of the top layer, cake knife slid down from the top to the middle, and gradually into the bottom of the cake.

"What's wrong, sir?" The staff whispered to Hirata when he suddenly stopped moving the cake knife.

"Eh, I can't slide it down, it seems to be stuck with something." Hirata whispered back.

"Excuse me" The staff tried to press the knife down to no avail. "It really stuck, there may be something wrong with the cake." He told another staff.

And then he grabs the knife's handle and tries to pull it out, but what came along with it made whoever saw it, frightened, dreaded, and panicked.

Because it was a fresh blood, flowing until it reached the handle and dripped down to the floor.

"Oh god!" The staff who holding a knife, exclaimed with fear.

'What?!' Conan, who also witnessed the event, walking closer to the cake.

"There's must be something in there!" The second staff said and put on a glove, trying to find something in the cake. His fingers touched with something inside and…

"What's happening?" Kogoro asked.

'Don't tell me!?' Conan runs to the cake immediately by instinct.

When the staff finally caught that something, he pulled it out…

Conan also finally reached the scene and when he saw it, he froze still.

That thing…it was a bloodied human head that was severed and was stuffed inside the cake!

The one who still holding it, with a shock, let go of what he was holding and the head dropped to the floor.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!" The party guests screamed in panic.

"Oh my god, Reiko-san" Chief Editor Hirata said when he recognized the face of the head, its Reiko-san's who didn't show up since the party started.

"Ran, call the police!" Kogoro told her in haste and ran to the scene.

'Not again' Conan thought, mentally face-palmed.

"Everyone stands still! Nobody move!" Kogoro shouted from where he is when he saw someone was about to run away.

30 minutes later…

"Can you tell me the details of the crime scene?" Inspector Misao Yamamura asked one of his fellow policemen.

"I can't believe we are in the Gunma district" Conan sighed. "But this killer was so cruel, to cut Reiko-san's head off and put it in the cake like that?" He said and walked to the cake cart. "How can the culprit put the head in the cake? Eh…could it be –!" He then tuckered underneath the cart and there! He found a hole under the cart!

'So that was it' He thought and then said in his childlike voice. "A le le, there's something in here!"

"Brat!" Kogoro grabbed Conan's collar from behind "Don't mess with the crime scene!" and cast him away.

"Ouch! But it's really there! A hole to put the head inside a cake…"

Later he heard what Conan said, Inspector then called the forensic officer to come to inspect the cart. "There's actually a hole here like he said, Yamamura-keibu."

"That mean after the culprit killed the victim and silt her throat, it put the head in the cake through this hole that was prepared beforehand, I see." Yamamura said after he saw it himself, "You are so smart, Conan-kun!" and complimented Conan who standing nearby.

"Yamamura-keibu, we've finished assumed the victim's time of death." Another forensic officer comes running to inform him.

"And what's the result?" He demanded.

"From the bloods that still not dry at the time, we assumed it between 7:30 p.m – 9 p.m and we found the head at 9:30 p.m."

"I see, do you find the body yet?"

"The search team still looking for it." The forensic officer answered.

'7:30 p.m to 9 p.m, huh?' Conan is thinking while walking around the scene. 'The culprit must be among these two hundred party guests, if selected, only who didn't have an alibi, and so it will be not much suspects since most guests are in the party room…but outsiders that isn't in the working team shouldn't have any grudge with Reiko-san. Why must it always be like this? Argh!' He scratched his head severely.

"

10 p.m. – Waiting room

"Ahem" Yamamura-keibu, who crossing his arms to his chest and glancing at each suspect in the room exclaimed to gain their attention. "We presumed Reiko-san's time of death at between 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. At the time most of the guests are in the party except you all who didn't have an alibi, how is that?"

There are 6 suspects: Chief Editor Hirata-san, photographers Ryoji-san and Kaede-san, editor Toshimi-san, sponsor Masao-san and Ex-actress Tomoko-san, they didn't have an alibi at the time when the murder occurred.

"I'm resting in my room before the opening remark, but before that we are greeting the guests in the party." Chief Hirata said.

"Yes, we're with him too" Kaede said. "Right? Ryoji-kun" She asked Ryoji and he nodded.

"It's only 20 minutes; there still had enough time to kill her, isn't it?" Yamamura retorted.

Meanwhile, Narumi and Kaaka are using their camera to get photographs.

"Excuse me, but please, no taking a photo in the investigation." Kogoro who noticed, spoke out.

"If you police suspected us…" Toshimi brought up. "Where's the evidence? Or the murder weapon, you still can't find it, right?"

"That's right! Then you can't detain us more than one hour!" Tomoko supported Toshimi.

"So, Meitantei-san, figure out the culprit yet?" Eri elbowed Kogoro.

"Who would know that fast?" He replied. "And where's Ran?"

"Sleeping on the sofa there" Eri said, looking at Ran, who sleeping peacefully on the sofa. "You shouldn't let her see all these kind of things."

"It can't be helped and you know it."

Afterward, the officers do the body search on all the suspects, but found nothing that can be used as a murder weapon.

"Mouri-san, do you know the culprit yet?" Yamamura asked, hoping for the positive answer.

"Eh, not yet." Kogoro sheepishly answered.

"Ah, that's too bad, now we also bear no evidence at all…" He sighed.

At that instant, one of the officers rushed in haste into the room. "Yamamura-keibu, we found the body."

"Where?" he demanded.

"It was overlaid with a black plastic bag and was left with tons of rubbish at the rear of the mansion. We assumed that the victim was drugged and was slit in the throat by a very sharp weapon." The officer informed.

"And did you find that said weapon?"

"No, sir, we've searched all places, both in and outside the mansion, the weapon may still with the culprit."

"But that's impossible; we did the body search just a while ago…"

'If they couldn't find the murder weapon…' Conan thought. 'That's mean it is still with the culprit, but what is it? And who has it?' His gaze is inspecting all the suspects in the room.

"There's another thing that we found with the body."

"What is it?" Yamamura asked again.

"Is that we found this paper with a strange message written in it." The same officer said and hands Yamamura the paper which inside the evidence bag.

"It was tarnished with blood…" he said and starts reading the message out loud for everyone to hear. "The resentment on 13 years ago…this is just the beginning…"

'The resentment on 13 years ago, huh?' Conan pondered.

When Yamamura finished, most of the suspects paled, some had a shock expression on their faces.

"It-It was not d-dead" Chief Hirata said, his body trembling as if he was afraid of something.

"But that's not possible! There must be someone trying to scare us!" Kaede said, fear can be heard in her voice while she is sweating all over.

"What's the matter?" Kogoro asked everyone.

"Nothing" Ryoji said, "If nothing else, I'm going back to my room." then left.

"Me too" Masao said and follows Ryoji out of the room.

Everyone then goes back to their own room…except Conan, Kogoro and Yamamura-keibu.

"What should we do? If it was like this, we can't arrest the culprit…do you have any idea, Mouri-san?" Yamamura asked Kogoro.

"I don't know either." He answered.

"Ne, ne" Conan tugged at Yamamura's trousers. "Yamamura-keibu, can you let me see that paper?"

"This isn't what you should look, brat."

"But it said that 'this is just the beginning' right? So, the murderer would have thought to kill someone else too?"

Kogoro and Yamamura turn to look at each other…

"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Who come here so late?" Chief Hirata wondered and went to open the door.

"If it was the police, I'm not-" When he opened the door, he was astonished and then….

"

Conan is calling someone on his cell phone…

"Hello" Ai Haibara is on the other line.

"Hello Haibara, I knew that you will pass the camping with the children."

"What do you want by calling this late?" Haibara ignored his remark and asked.

"I want you to help me with something."

"What is it?"

"I want you to search about 'The Way' magazine and what happened 13 years ago."

"Fine"

"Call me back when you found it, ok?

"Okay"

"I'm counting on you, bye."

"Wait-" It was too late, he already hung up. "Kudo-kun…"

"

20 minutes later…

Kogoro and Yamamura are talking while walking in the hallway…

"We have to stay the night here, because the case wasn't making any progress." Yamamura said.

"If I could get that damn culprit now, that would be great." Kogoro said.

Meanwhile, they are going to pass Hirata's room which Kimie is knocking the door and calling his name.

"Chief, chief Are you in there?"

"What's the matter, Kimie-san? Kogoro asked her. "You haven't returned to your room?

"Eh, chief said that he wants to talk to me about the shooting for the magazine. He just sent me a message to meet him at his room." Kimie said.

"Is that so?" He replied.

"But I've called him for a while now and he still hasn't come out…"

"Could it be…" Kogoro said, looking at Yamamura. "Do you have a spare key?" He asked.

"This mansion doesn't have any spare keys; it is the only one of a kind." She answered.

"I think we have to break the door then." Yamamura said to Kogoro.

"I guess so." The men get a few steps back, away from the doorway.

"Three, two, one, go!" Kogoro counted down and they both ran to the door.

Bang!

The door broke down…

The light from the lamp in the room shining dimly…

But it was bright enough to see the body of chief Hirata, who being hung with the light on the ceiling in front of them…

"I can't believe myself to what I'm seeing." Yamura exclaimed.

When Kimie saw the body, she screamed, it was loud for everyone else to hear distinctly.

"What happened?!" Eri who is in the living room, said out loud.

"Could it be!?" Conan then runs out of the room, to the source of the scream immediately.

"We are too late, he's dead." Kogoro said after he finished checking the pulse on Hirata's wrist.

Yamamura is calling the other officers through the phone…

People who heard the scream, all come to see what had happened…

"What happened?" Eri asked the same question from before when she reached the scene with Conan.

"Hirata-san…he was murdered" Kogoro told her and walking into the room.

Everyone who in front of the room, their face turned pale after they heard it.

"No, Hirata-san. I can't believe it…" Toshimi said.

"Another one?" Narumi said.

"What's more important is that this is what we called the impossible cases…" Kogoro turned to everyone. "The locked-room murder case…"

"Narumi, what's going on?" Kaaka, who just arrived to the scene asked.

"It's Hirata-san, he was murdered." Narumi replied.

"Oh, Really?" Kaaka said "I can't believe he's really dead."

"The door was locked from inside so why you believe this is not a suicide?" Eri asked Kogoro.

"Because we couldn't find the thing…" Conan appeared behind Eri. "The thing that should be there, that the victim used to step on…"

"Conan-kun, you shouldn't wander around here." She told him.

"Heh heh" Conan rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Mouri-san, it is indeed a locked-room." Yamamura-keibu said while grabbing a book which lying nearby the body and there's the room's key under it.

"Even though the sealed room was created, the culprit didn't make it to look like a suicide…why?" Eri, who crossing her arms to her chest asked.

"Maybe they want to threaten someone?" Conan raised the subject.

"When Hirata-san separated with us was approximately half an hour ago." Kogoro started, walking to the front. "What were you guys doing at that time, huh?" He asked everyone who gathering in front of the room.

"I was in my room." Takuro answered.

"Yeah, I was also in my room all the time." Tomoko said.

Everyone all exclaimed that they were in their rooms, so no one has an alibi.

"Man, knowing the culprit didn't yet caught, why not stay up as a group? I really don't understand." Kogoro complained.

"Keibu, we found this crumpled paper under the bed." The forensic handed Yamamura the paper.

Yamamura unfolds the paper, there is a message like the first one, he read. _"You already know…the next one is you."_

Immediately after he finished, Conan feels that someone's expression somewhat changed slightly.

"So, this was the perfect sealed room?" Kogoro said.

"I don't think so, Oji-san." Conan intercepted. "There's a space under the door around 5 centimeters."

"Let me see…" He walks to inspect it.

"But, how can you create a sealed room by just that small gap? Eri asked.

Conan thought. _'Wait…that book…the key was under it…they're lying in the direction of the door…but still 3 meters away from it…'_

 _'What's the trick?'_ He then walks to where the book is, suddenly his vision blurred and he feels dizzy. _'Damn, why at the time like this?'_ He's holding his right temple, trying to make them go away.

"What's wrong, Conan-kun?" Eri asked, concerned.

"What else? His fever's probably up again." Kogoro guessed.

"Then let's go to rest in the living room, shall we?" She then escorts Conan to the living room.

At the time, Ran woke up, seeing them entering the room. "Oh, Okaa-san, what's wrong with Conan-kun?"

"I'm fine, Ran-neechan." Conan replied, began to cough.

"It's this little detective who overdone it and got his fever up again." Eri said.

Ran looks around. "Where is everyone else? Otou-san?"

"It was…Hirata-san was murdered."

"Oh" Ran exclaimed, shocked.

"And there's also another message from the culprit, says ' _You already know…the next one is you.'"_ The voices belonged to Narumi and Kaaka who have entered the room.

"Even though there're police everywhere, but the killer still dares to kill him off." Narumi said to Kaaka.

"Anyway, did you see my film box anywhere?" Kaaka asked.

"Oh yeah, I put it beside the TV in this room." Narumi said and walks to the TV table in front of Conan. She picks the film box up; he looks at her and sees something.

 _'I see, if they used this thing, they could easily make the almost perfectly sealed room.'_ He thought.

"Oh Ran-can, Conan-kun," Kaaka said. "We are thirsty and going to make a juice in the kitchen, do you want to come?"

"Sure, thank you." Ran answered.

"Then I'll go back to the case, take care." Eri said. Then walks out of the room.

Conan, Ran, Narumi and Kaaka then go to the kitchen to make their juice…

"Hey Eri, did you see Tomoko-san in the living room?" Kogoro asked when she returned.

"No, why?" She asked?

"She's disappeared, only her who didn't come back here after we found Hirata-san's body."

"She's maybe in her room?"

"Nope, I checked. Her room is unlocked, no one's there and her phone is still in her room."

"That's strange…anyone else see her?" She asked again.

"Asked everyone…they don't see her anywhere…"

"There're orange, apple, watermelon and strawberry…" Narumi said after she opened the fridge and brought all of the fruit out.

"What would you like?" Kaaka asked Ran.

"I'll have apple juice then." She replied.

"What about you, Conan-kun?"

"I'll have…" While he answering, his phone rang. "I'm sorry, but I need to take this." He picks up the phone and walks out of the kitchen to find more private place to speak…

He stops in front of the restroom and answers the phone.

"Hey, Haibara" He said.

 _"I found it, about what happened with 'The Way' magazine 13 years ago."_

"What was it?"

 _"Some of the working group went sailing on a vacation at a sea in Shitsuoka, but there was an accident cause a shipwreck and there were only 2 life-saving rafts, so 12 people who stuck in the ship died."_ Haibara told him.

"Who's the survivor?"

 _"Six survived: Chief editor Banba Hirata, Editor Reiko Shinjo, Photographers Kaede Mioya and Ryoji Kawashima, Ex-actress Tomoko Funaki, and the last, Model Akiko Rokuda. Akiko-san died of gastrointestinal tract disease 4 years ago, so now are only 5 people left."_

 _'Reiko-san and Hirata-san were crossed out.'_ Conan thought. _'If I was right, the next one must be someone among Kaede-san, Ryoji-san and Tomoko-san…"_

 _"Oh hey, you are there, aren't you?"_ She guessed, remembering he has told her something about going to magazine party. _"That said magazine's party?_ "

"Ah, yeah" He replied reluctantly.

 _"So you got yourself into the case again, I should've known…"_ She remarked.

 _"Anyway, there's another thing I should tell you…"_ She continued. _"There was one of the victims who everyone was regretted of his death deeply."_

"Who was he?" He asked.

 _"He was one of admirable editors they had, Yuuji Dogushi. He was a hard worker, one of individuals who'd pushed the magazine to become well-known and popular to these days."_

 _'This was maybe the motive.'_ He thought.

"Thanks, Haibara" and he hangs up.

"Conan-kun!" Ran exclaimed upon seeing Conan. "Oh, you're here…are you done?"

"Hai" He answered "Let's go back"

"I'll use the restroom for a bit, wait here." She said then enters women's.

He continues to connecting the dots, his back leans on the wall beside the restroom's door. _'The killer intended to kill who's survived the incident 13 years ago…for what..?'_

While Ran is washing her hands, she glances to the toilet room at the far end and notices that the door is ajar a little. With curiosity, she walks to inspect it…

What she's seeing is a body of Tomoko-san who was stabbed with a cook knife in the chest, and red from the blood all over the floor…

She screams.

And Conan who heard it, runs into the room, the shock expression on their faces. _'The third?!'_

Narumi and Kaaka who also heard the scream from the kitchen, coming to see what happened.

"What's happened, Ran-chan?" Narumi asked.

"Tomoko-san…she was murdered." Conan answered in place of Ran, who still in shock.

"W-What?!" The two journalists walk to the front of the restroom and they grasp.

"Oh god" Kaaka exclaimed when she saw the body of Tomoko-san.

Conan looks in the stall, glances around and sees the bloody writing on the wall on the right side of the victim. The dying message…

"'9'-no-'q'..?" He's trying to interpret the message which is a lowercase English alphabet 'q'.

"What's wrong, Ran!?" Kogoro comes running in panic with Yamamura-keiji and others officers.

"I-It's— " She said, trembling, and points to the last toilet room, which Conan still standing in the front.

 _'The culprit must be in hurry, stabbed her and ran away, didn't notice that she still alive and left the dying message…'_ Conan thought. _'I'll definitely get you, wherever you are, you just wait…'_

 _12:00 P.M. – The Living Room_

"I can't take it anymore! You are going let us get killed one by one like this?!" Kaede shouted, standing up.

"Calm down," Takuro said, trying to calm her down. "If we stay as a group then we're safe."

"It is true that the killer is among us?" Kimie asked, glancing around to everyone in the room.

Yamamura-keibu pokes at Kogoro. "Mouri-san, you still haven't figured it out?"

"Not yet," Kogoro grumbled. "Why didn't Tomoko-san just wrote the culprit's name? We would get him long ago…"

Narumi, who is sitting beside Ran yawns, feeling sleepy from staying up late at night and then says. "Say, everyone, I'm going to go make some drinks, you guys want something?"

"Good idea, I'll have coffee then." Ryoji said.

"I'll have coffee too, I feel so sleepy." Masao said.

"I'll have tea instead." Eri said.

"I also will have a tea." Kimie said.

"I don't want anything" Toshimi said bluntly.

"Come on, it's already this late, some coffee sounds good?" Ryoji suggested.

"Fine" She replied reluctantly.

"Wait a moment." Kaaka said and follow Narumi out of the room.

"Let me help" Ran said and follows them.

"Thanks, Ran-chan" Kaaka thanked her.

Meanwhile, Conan is thinking about the case, _'The dying message Tomoko-san left…What does it means? 'q'…'q'…'kill' Aha! 'q' is a punctuation of 'kill' but kill who? Or who kill?'_ He furrows his brow, concentrating.

After a while, Narumi's back with their drinks on a tray and places it on the table.

Each takes their own drinks…

Eri hands Kimie a tea.

At the moment, the murderer among the group mentally smiles, looking at o Kaede is looking down at her coffee cup in her hand.

"What's on your mind? Thinking if it has a poison or something?" Ryoji asked, "Nah, I don't think so." and sips his cup.

"Maybe I'm just over thinking…" Kaede smiles to Ryoji and drink hers.

Clank!

The sound of something hitting the floor…

Kaede's eyes widen, both her hands holding her neck. Everyone who is watching gasps almost simultaneously.

"Oh god! What's going on?!" Narumi exclaimed.

"Yamamura, call the ambulance!" Kogoro demanded.

She then falls to the ground, lies still…

"Too late, she's dead." Eri said after she checked the pulse.

"No way…" Ran said, not believing what's in front of her.

Conan walks closer to the body. 'Her lip starts to turn purple…the potassium cyanide? Che, they have one step ahead of us again.'

"Everyone, don't move or do anything and stay still!" Kogoro shouted and also comes to inspect the body. "Geez, old case still not clear and then this, the new one appeared."

"I think, the culprit is definitely one of you." Eri declared, looking at everyone. "Narumi-san, Kaaka-san, Ryoji-san, Takuro-san, Kimie-san and Masao-san, all of you had a chance to put a poison in her cup."

"What is this about?" Narumi demanded.

"I'm a suspect? I didn't even touch her cup!" Masao said, irritating.

"Yeah, you were the one who handed me a cup, weren't you, Kisaki-san?" Kimie asked.

"I was, but in the previous cases you all didn't have an alibi, so I can't cross anyone out." She replied.

"Now, I want everyone to gather at the sofa right there, so we can work with this case." Kogoro requested, pointing to the sofa at the far right of the room, far enough for him and the police to investigate the body.

And all the suspects are called to do the body search, to find the poison which might still be with the culprit, but find nothing…

1:35:46

"

1:35:45

"Keibu, the reaction of Potassium cyanide in the coffee cup is positive." The forensic officer informed.

All of a sudden, the light in the room is off, leaves them in the darkness.

"Who turned off the light?!" Kogoro shouted.

*Shatters* *Smash*

The sound of something shatters, turns them into panic and astonish.

"Arghhhhh!" But the sound Ryoji's painful cry surprises them more…

"What's happened?!"

"Someone turns on the light!"

When the room filled with the light once again, what they are seeing turned them from panic and surprise into horror.

Ryoji is smashed with the flower vase which is decorates in the room, and lying on the floor…

"He's still alive! Someone please helps him!" Kimie pleaded.

Two officers help heap him up from the floor, unconscious from the impact he received.

Conan looks at the vase, now in pieces, and notices a towel on the floor not far from the vase much. 'Use a towel to hold the vase to prevent fingerprints?'

"The killer dare to attack us like this?" Kaaka told Narumi, her hand bracing on her chest in somewhat a surprise. He glances at her and that is when he figures something out.

His glasses reflexes in the light like it usually do when he solved mysteries and cases.

'So that's what it was… I figured it all out, the culprit, the murder weapon which silt Reiko-san's throat, why that person did that kind of reaction and the meaning of Tomoko-san's dying message. Then that thing still has to be at somewhere there.' Then he quickly runs to the kitchen.

"Wait! Conan-kun!" Ran said when she sees him suddenly runs out. "Why such hurry…"

'If it as I thought, then it must have that thing' When he reached the kitchen, he opens the cupboards in search for something. 'Here it is!'

"Now this case shall come to the climax." He smirks in triumphant.

Meanwhile, his phone rang and he takes it out from his pocket to see who the caller is.

'Haibara?'

Then he answers the phone.

"What is it, Haibara?"

"Kudo-kun, I just found it, the real cause of that accident 13 years ago."

"Really? What is it then?" Conan asked.

"It—actually it was…" Haibara started.

He listens and then keeps his face down until the end.

'If that's true, then this case would be a very tragic one…' He thought.

"Thanks, Haibara" And he hangs up.

1:13:56

"

1:13:55

"Where are you running off again, huh?" Ran asked immediately when Conan comes back.

"I just went to the restroom." He lied. He can't tell her what he is doing anyway.

"Restroom again" Ran said, gives him a pointed look.

"Heh heh" He chuckles while rubbing at the back of his head sheepishly.

"What's about Ryoji-san? How is he?" He changed the subject to brush off her suspicion.

"Ah, he's fine. We already did the first aid and now we let him to rest at his room." She replied.

"And where's oji-san?"

"There, with Megure-keibu over there." She points to where Kogoro is standing with Megure. "Don't disturb him, okay?"

"Haiiii" He drawled back.

1:04:21

"

1:04:20

"Hey hey, you say there's something strange you want me to see?" Kogoro asked Conan when they reached Chief Hirata's room.

"This way, this way" Conan said, beckons him to a chair which is prepared at the front of the bed.

"Geez, where it—" There was a sound and he feels something pricks in the back of his neck, "Here it come againnn" before he staggers and slumps on the chair, into the 'sleeping Kogoro' pose.

He takes the phone from Kogoro's pocket, with voice changer bow in another hand; he dials and orders to another end. "Eri, gather everyone to Hirata-san's room for me, I think I now know who the culprit is."

0:58:09

"

0:58:08

"Conan-kun?" Ran comes to find Conan at the restroom, but apparently, he isn't there. "Eh? But he said he's going to use the toilet…" She pondered with folded arms.

She didn't notice someone had snuck up behind her.

She tries to call for help and struggles when that person uses a chloroformed handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth.

To no avail, her eyes slowly close and she drifts into consciousness…

"Is it true? You know who the culprit? Yamamura-keibu asked when he and others arrived to Hirata's room.

"I've called everyone here, so…" Eri began. "Meitantei-san, will you tell us who committed these murders which are occurring at this mansion?" She said with crossing arms and glances back to give a pointed look to all the suspects behind her.

Conan who is behind the chair speaks in Kogoro's voice through the voice changer. "All right, I will start one by one. Let's start from the case of Hirata-san's sealed room, which is where we are now."

"Please wait a moment; I'm going to go get a video camera in the car!" Yamamura said and runs out with haste.

"How could the culprit created a sealed room, despite the only key for this room was under the book?" Takuro asked.

"It's very simple; you only need two things to make it. Oi Conan!"

"This!" Conan appears from behind Kogoro and holds something up for everyone to see.

"TV antenna?" Kimie asked, dumbfounded.

"And this!" He lifts a cooler box which has ices inside for them to see.

"Ice? How so?" Eri asked, confused how these two things could make a sealed room.

"I'm back!" Yamamura returned, still panting, and starts recording with a video camera in his hand.

"After the culprit murdered Hirata-san, they stacked around 4 to 5 ice cubes on the floor and away from the door 3 meters" He said and does the demonstration.

"Then they placed the book on the ice…" and do as he said. "Said book will be up from the floor around 10 cm."

"After that, the culprit locked the door and put the key on the floor, then used an already stretched TV antenna to push the key under the book."

"But that antenna wasn't long enough to reach that far!" Narumi pointed out.

"What if there were 2 of it?" Conan said, connects two antennas together and pushes the key under the book.

"When the ice melts, the sealed room was completed." Kogoro(actually Conan) takes over.

Eri who is still inside the room, unlocks the door and opens it. "If that was true, then wouldn't the book still wet? When we found it, there's no any trace of water being there and the book didn't wet either."

"The culprit used the ice that, when melted, there would be no water left. Yes, the dry ice." He replied. "I found this cooler box contains with dry ices in the kitchen, evident that the culprit had used it."

"This method everyone could perform it." Kaaka also pointed out.

"Yes." Kogoro answered short.

"Them what method they used to make Kaede-san drank a cup of coffee with poison? Eri asked.

"It was easier than we thought, there's no any trick at all in that case."

"What do you mean, Mouri-san?" Takuro spoke out his confusion.

"Mean that the culprit has only wanted someone—or rather, anyone to drink it."

"Wait, you mean that I could've drank it too?" Masao commented.

"I was so lucky that I didn't drink it then…" Ryoji said from behind them, suddenly appears.

"Ah, are you alright, Ryoji-san?" Eri asked.

"Just a small wound and I also want to know who hit me too." He said.

"The culprit had set the timer to make a blackout at that time, to kill Ryoji-san," Kogoro continued. "But they didn't exert enough to get him killed."

"Heh, now I really much want to see who the killer is." Ryoji said, looking at everyone in the room.

"Tomoko-san told us already, in her dying message"

"She only wrote 'q', wasn't she?" Yamamura who has keeps quiet until now said.

"That's right, the English alphabet 'q' which homonym with the word 'Kill', do you think so?"

"It's still doesn't tell us who is the culprit, isn't it?" Eri said.

"It was in her message clearly, with her crimson red blood…" He began.

"That's right! The blood indicated only to one person, and that is…."

"You…."ne particular cup with complacency…

0:46:38

"

0:46:37

"Ran!"

"Ran!"

Shinichi's voice resounds inside her consciousness, waking her up…

"Shinichi..?" Ran grumbles, slowly opens her eyes.

She gasps alarmingly when she found herself in a room which looks like to be a storage room, and then she remembers what has happened to her.

She walks to the door and turn the door knob, but found it locked. "Help me! Somebody help me!" She tried to break the door, but it was too thick and strong. So she cries out, calling for help…

"It was in her message clearly, with her crimson red blood…" He began.

"That's right! The blood indicated only to one person, and that is…."

"Kaaka Omotani-san, it was you." Sleeping Kogoro declared. Everyone look at her in shock and astonishment.

"No way…you didn't do it, right?" Narumi asks Kaaka, while another hasn't said anything, standing in silence.

"Blood is red, and red is 'aka' which is in your name, no?"

"If I'm the murderer, then what did I used to kill Reiko-san?" Kaaka retorted. "You police has frisked me for 3 times already, but couldn't find any weapon, are you?"

"That because they never thought or aware that it could be used as a weapon."

"What was it, that weapon?" Yamamura asked.

"It was what she always holds all the time, and no one would think it can cut human's throat…" He paused, everyone waiting expectantly "…Kaaka-san. The murder weapon…it was your bead necklace, wasn't it?"

Kaaka gasps in surprise, unconsciously puts her hand to her necklace which still hanging around her neck.

"How was that possible!? How just a necklace could cut someone's throat?" Eri is the one who asked this time.

"What if it isn't an ordinary necklace? But a nylon rope which is thick and strong?"

"Can I see you necklace, please?" Yamamura asked for her necklace and she reluctantly gives it to him.

"Mouri-san, it's indeed the nylon rope." He confirmed after he finished checking it.

"You just have to stretch the rope tightly and then gradually slit it around the neck repeatedly, and if you put a little more pressure you can easily cut it." Kogoro started again.

"And you probably used the time when you excused yourself to go to restroom in the party's open remark speech and killed Reiko-san, who you already put to sleep. Wasn't she gone to toilet for a long time back then?" He finished.

Kaaka stands in silence.

"Kaaka, you didn't do it, right? Right?" Narumi asked desperately, hoping that her colleague wouldn't do such a thing so cruelly while she's shaking Kaaka's shoulders. "Tell him you didn't do it!" She almost screams. Tears are now on the edge of her eyes, trying to escape from the fragile jail of her eyes and fall down.

"If we found luminol's reaction on this necklace, it will be incriminating evidence for your crimes." Yamamura said in the-matter-of-fact tone.

"Yes, I'm the one who killed them." Kaaka finally admitted.

"Kaaka…"

"How did you know I'm the culprit?" Kaaka asked.

"It was because of your strange behavior at that one time…" Kogoro began. "When we were going to the mansion together, I noticed you touched the necklace and immediately pulled back. That was when I guessed you didn't want to bring much attention to it, because you were going to use it as the murder weapon to kill Reiko-san, am I right?"

"As expected from you, Meitantei Mouri Kogoro-san" Kaaka said dryly.

"Why, Kaaka, why…" Narumi now is crying uncontrollable, feeling betrayed. "W-Why did you have to do all that? I'm your friend s-since we were still in University. I n-never thought you w-would do something like t-this…" She managed to say in between sobs.

"Please don't cry, Narumi"

"Your motive is perhaps something about an accident which happened 13 years ago, isn't that right? Kaaka Dogushi-san?" The sleeping detective said.

"How did you know my real name?!" Kaaka said in surprise.

"One of the victims on that accident, there's someone who many people had grieved of his death. He was an editor at 'The way' magazine and your brother, Yuji Dogushi." He started explain again.

Kaaka looks down, tears in her eyes.

"The police didn't tell this to the media, but there's 14 years old girl name Kaaka Dogushi who had wept in sorrow on his burial day." Kogoro finished.

"Niisan was my only family left when both our parents died since I was eight…" Kaaka starts to cry as well like Narumi. "He comforted me when I was bullied, congratulated along with me when I got high score on my exams. He was everything in my life! No one could replace him, never."

"So then why?" Eri asked.

"It was because of those people!" She pointed at Ryoji. "They sank the ship because they want insurance money! They left him to die so pathetically in that sea!" She screamed. Her eyes filled with tears, wrath, and hatred. "I tried to investigate about this for years! I tricked them to talk so many times, but no one told me a thing!"

Ryoji didn't say anything.

"T-Then I finally know the t-truth by myself i-in the end…" She finished with stutter. Her whole body is trembling with the crying and the sorrows within her.

"Kaaka-san, actually, they didn't do it." Conan spoke in his voice changer while he looks down with sad expression appeared on his face.

"Huh?"

"The truth is, the person who sank the ship weren't any of them at all, but was Yuji-san, your brother, who did it" He said in quiet, sad tone.

When Kaaka heard what he said, eyes widens in shock and disbelief.

"The police had already informed you about this fact. Perhaps you were still lament of his death and too shock, so you didn't hear any of it…" He continued. "You're brother had owed a lot amount of debts, so he'd escaped by taken his own life..."

"That's not true! Niisan wouldn't..." She stopped mid sentence. She isn't sure of that statement much, though she lets him continues.

"The cause for him to had the debts probably because of those who you killed. Kaaka-san, everything I said is true, I'm very certain of that." The detective added.

"It's not true...no.. No!" The tears which were supposed to dry already begins to pours down again. "No way, noooooo!" Kaaka let out a painful scream, her knees gave out on her so she falls down to the ground and she keeps cries and cries. Sadness and guilt, she cannot hold them to herself anymore. She let out all of her emotions inside her, mixed in with tears that she cannot stops from falling down...

That clamorous painful ear-piercing cry echoes inside everyone's minds. It even made someone to cry along with her, whose name is Yamamura who is now wiping away tears from his eyes.

Conan keeps looking down on the floor. The scream also made him forgot something very absolutely important...

0:30:17

"

0:30:16

Ran slides down to the floor beside the door in exhaustion from pounding the door and calling for a rescue for how many times she can't remember anymore.

"Shinichi…" She muttered desperately.

Where is he when she needs him most?

Before the police could arrest Kaaka, Conan asked her though Kogoro's voice. "Kaaka-san, what does the message in the threatening letter you sent to Hirata-san mean to?"

"Huh? What letter? I don't know any letter being sent here." She answered before she walks away with the police to the police car.

'Wait. If Kaaka-san wasn't the one who sent the letter, then who?' The shrunken detective wondered. 'What does it mean by 'blow to bits'?'

At the moment, Kogoro wakes up with a yawn. "What's happened? You already caught the culprit?" He asked, dumfounded.

"You're like this all the time, Anata." Eri sighed.

"Ne, Obaa-san…Where is Ran-neechan?" Conan asked her. He just notices he hasn't seen Ran anywhere since the start of Kogoro's—well, his deduction show.

"Oh right. She told me she is going to go find you, so where is she now…?" The female lawyer wondered out loud.

After hearing that, Conan suddenly runs out to the living room.

"Eh? Ran isn't with you?" The old man detective asked.

"Why asked? Don't you see we're all in here?" Eri said in a bit annoying tone.

"Say, Mouri-san. What is the letter you talking about?" Yamamura asked.

"What letter?" Kogoro asked back, confused on what's going on.

"The threatening letter you said was sent to Chief Hirata-san, I mean." The inspector expanded.

"Oh yes, someone sent it to Hirata-san." Kogoro explained "It says 'If you don't cancel this party, I will blow this place to bits'"

"A bomb?" They wondered.

"Ran-neechan!" Conan finally reaches the living room and searching for Ran. "Not here"

He then goes to searches the kitchen. "Not here either…"

Then there is a sound…

*Boom*

It was a sound of a bomb exploded…reverberated through all every parts of the mansion.

"What happened!?" Everyone exclaimed in panic.

"Keibu, there's a bomb explosion in the party room!" The officer comes to informed Yamamura.

"Whaaat?"

"Bomb?!" Conan exclaimed when he heard the sound. He instantly runs out of the kitchen.

*Boom*

*Boom*

Two more exploded…

"Keibu! More bombs the culprit planted have explored!" Another officer shouted from the front of the door.

"Keibu-san! There's a fire in the living room and others room! And it keeps spreading to everywhere!" The third officer also comes. "If this continues, the mansion going to collapses!" He informed them hurriedly.

"Everyone, we will evacuate! Now!" Yamamura yelled. Everyone else hurry out of the room, out of the burning mansion…

The loud sound of 3 times explosion makes Ran jumped in fright.

"What is happening!? There're bombs here?!" She exclaimed. Then she scanning the room she is currently in to find an exit. She glances around and sees something covered in white cloth; she walks to takes it off.

But she has to gasps in shock when she saw what's under the white sheet.

0:22:25

"

0:22:24

Red numbers are flashing, counting down slowly…to the destruction…

"No way…" She exclaimed in terror.

Ran was in shock when she heard a familiar sound. It was Conan's voice coming from brooch he gave her. She took out it and then replied" yes Conan-kun I can hear."

"where are you , Ran-neechan" Conan asked.

" I don't know Conan-kun, Even if I had known I will not tell you. You should run .You should save yourself. You should leave there is bomb infront of me." Ran replied.

" what bomb ,no Ran-neechan I will not leave alone" Conan replied.

"no you should leave and sorry…" saying this Ran cut off the communication.

Damn Ran why you always do this. With this Conan he remembered his glasses and then start running towards the direction where was Ran held.

He saw a room but door of the Room was crushed and only opening she saw small ventilation window to go inside.

When he reached door he shouted " Ran-neechan ". With a sudden rush Ran move to door and shouted" why Conan-kun , why are you here , why, just run save yourself."

Without replying to her, he shot a ball to break window and with help of snickers jump inside.

With shock and tears inside her eyes Ran shouted " why didn't you runaway why are you here". Hearing that he replied " to save you Ran-neechan , I can't let you die. Tell me where is bomb".

Pointing towards the bomb Ran said "there, what will you do". "just wait " he replied.

Rushing towards Bomb he started defusing it. When he succeeded . He released a sigh said " Ran-neechan everything is fine ,just relax ".

Ran was shock how seven year old boy manage to defuse the bomb but before she could think anything she was brought back to earth by Conan.

" Ran-neechan I should call shinichi-niichan to tell him everything ok now as he was worried tell me how to defuse the bomb" said Conan.

Ran said" ok but first lets get out". Conan nodded yes. While walking Ran thought how Shinichi and Conan were connected, how can shinichi trust a boy to defuse a bomb. Although Conan was brilliant minded but defusing bomb was to much for him. Her suspicion was rising but Conan was not talking much with her from few days but always try to keep her protected , and happy but their communication was not properly going on.

 _Entry #5_

 _Having Hattori here for the weekend really did help…a little. I still feel useless. There's only so much that a kid can do! I don't know how much longer I could last like this. Everything is so different, even I'm different! The only thing that has stayed the same in my life is Ran! She's always thinking of me, Conan or Shinichi! But there's nothing I could do in return! It's like that saying: "How the mighty have fallen."_

 _I solved another case yesterday…or should I say that Kogoro solved another case yesterday. It was pretty tough since Kogoro kept throwing me out of the room. I hate being nothing more than a useless kid! I can't do anything!_

 _Ran had me help her make dinner tonight. I hardly even did anything…I couldn't even reach the countered without a stool! Most people would give anything to be a kid again…if you ask me, it's the worst thing that could happen! Nobody needs you as a kid…you're just there, in the way. Being a kid is horrible!_

 _Ran cried while cutting vegetables. She said that it was just the onions but I could tell that she was thinking about Shinichi…thinking about me. I want to hug her, hold her in my arms, wipe away her tears. Each tears that she shed just broke my heart into pieces. I want to let her know that I'm okay, that I'm here for her. But I'm just a useless kid._

 _Letter 5_

 _Dear Ran,_

 _How have you been? I hope you haven't drowned in tests and assignments. I can't believe I had to miss watching the big Tokyo Spirits VS Big Osaka game in the stadium! I had to watch it discreetly in a café. Having to stay undercover all the time sucks. Spy movies make it way too overrated. Heh, now that I think about it, I actually have some awesome gadgets like spies do. When I return, Ran, let's get coffee. I am sure you have as much to tell me as I do you. I know I owe you an explanation, but I want to tell you as myself, and I want to be able to explain everything and answer your questions. I want to be there, as me, but right now, I can't. It just isn't physically possible. I know I am talking in circles, and am making absolutely zero sense, but you will get it soon enough. I…. am not myself at the moment. I am still your Shinichi, I always will be. But to the world, I don't seem to be. My mind, my memories, everything is still me, except for… well, I can't tell you yet, but you can guess. They did this to me, and They think I am dead. If They thought you knew anything about Them or my 'murder', they'd kill you. Even after They have gone, I don't know if I will ever be able to return to you as the Shinichi you knew._

 _Tropical Land. That was the 'crime scene', where Kudo Shinichi lost. I wouldn't have lied to you saying I was on a case, or hidden, if I knew what was going on. I thought it was a nightmare at first, and then I went into a panicked shock. I thought it would only last a few weeks, maybe a month at most. I didn't think it'd take longer than a year. Now I know how real the possibility that I may never go back the same person I left as. It scares me, Ran. I'm terrified of being stuck forever, never being able to fully return to Kudo Shinichi, to you. I will always be your Shinichi, but I like being called by my name. My own name. Though, not when you cry. I wish that I could do something to stop your tears, to lessen your pain. I hate it when you call out my name, afraid that I am going to leave again._

 _I never left you, Ran. I am still here, always, although you can't see me. I didn't leave willingly, you know. It wasn't even because another case came up. All those times I left, I ran out of time. I always left suddenly, and I'm sorry, but I always cut it short. I wanted to spend as long as I could with you until I had to go back. I am truly sorry for running off, but I can't let you see what They did to me. Not because I don't trust you, but I'd never be able to trust myself. I would insist that you call me by my name, and I wouldn't be able to keep up my act to fool the others around. This stupid, flimsy mask I put on, it's as tough as concrete, but as soon as I let you see, if I take it down, it will take a long time to go back up._

 _I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, Ran. I can't even forgive myself for what I have done to you. For how stupid I was to get into this situation in the first place. You don't need to worry about beating me up, Ran, as I do a pretty good job of it myself. But, if you do find it in your heart, please forgive me. I love you, Ran, and I always will._

 _Love your Shinichi_

Conan yawned. Kogoro was out drinking and Ran had sent him to bed a few hours earlier. "I even have a bed time!" He sleepily slid the journal underneath his mattress and closed his eyes. He was asleep within seconds.

Ran peeked into the room and saw that Conan was asleep. Conan seemed to be happier but, for some reason, all of his smiles seemed fake. She was worried. She noticed that he spent a lot of time on his own. "What's bothering him?" She thought. She walked quietly into the room and took the glasses off of Conan's sleeping face. "You shouldn't sleep with your glasses on…I still can't get over how much he looks like Shinichi!" She shook her head. She had already been through this!

As she set the glasses down on the ground next to the sleeping boy, she noticed something poking out from underneath the mattress. Conan always put his sheets and pillowcase in a neat little bundle by the door for Ran to collect, and changed his sheets on his own. Ran was therefore surprised when she saw that the little bundle of washing was missing from the door. She sighed to herself. Conan was in a panic this morning trying to get ready; he had overslept. Ran smiled as she shook her head gently, remembering how funny Conan had looked rushing about trying to find everything he needed.

She walked over to his futon, and grabbed the pillow. She felt an outline of something in the cover. She absent-mindedly pulled it out, expecting it to be a diary of some sort. She sat down on the floor to get a closer look at the book in her hands. She noticed that there was something in between the pages, so she opened up the book. She was stunned by what she saw the charm she gave to Shinichi was stuck between the pages. But Shinichi told her he had received it. She suddenly try to open it and found nothing she may be they happen to look alike. Ran gasped when she realized that the page she thought was blank seemed to have some writing on it. She knew that she was invading Conan's privacy but her young ward wasn't telling her anything! If she was going to help him, she had to find out the problem herself!

She took the notebook into her room and closed the door. She turned on the lamp by her bed and sat down. Ran took a deep breath. She almost felt bad for what she was about to do but convinced herself again that it was for the greater good. She opened the notebook to the first page and began to read. There was nothing written except one word 'view' in whole notebook. Then she saw word view was written differently. 'W' somehow indicate to glasses of Conan. She ran to his room and brought his glasses and started reading.

As she read the journal, her hand came to her mouth and she silently cried at the contents of the letter. She quickly flipped to the next letter, realizing that everything in these letters must be the truth. What reason would Shinichi have to lie to himself? As she began reading each letter, everything that Shinichi had gone through made itself known to her. She was so blind! She had never even realized! All that time, she never realized that Shinichi was hurting from his absence as much as she was. She could practically see his smile, and envision any other little remarks he may have made to himself while writing the letters. As she reached the fourth letter, she noted that the date was written in the top left corner of the page, invisible unless you were looking for it. She ignored the date and read on, her eyes widening in surprise when Shinichi said that he loved her. Not in that round-about way the baka had in London, but he said it straight. She turned her head, so that her tears wouldn't touch the pages. As she carefully turned the page, she realized she was at the first letter she had seen.

The date read today. It must have been written early this morning, she thought, before reading the letter. As his words sunk in, everything became clear. Ran was hit with a wave of emotion, filled with her own anger and with all the feelings Shinichi had conveyed to her in his letters. She found that she couldn't speck or move, so she just sat on the floor holding the book filled with letters to her chest. She didn't have to think of what to do next. She knew. She wasn't going to tell Conan that she knew, he had said it himself. He didn't think he would be able to keep up his act around others, which seemed to be important. Shinichi was supposed to be missing. She had no idea who 'They' were, but she knew now that Shinichi was scared of them, so They must be pretty scary. She stayed on the floor for a few minutes more, letting out all her emotions and trying to make sense of all the facts that were placed at her feet.

Now she remember when he first confessed the truth but then denied because the excuse he told were to reasonable that in time of crisis she could speak her real name and he can't let his guard down. But the reason was denying was because she shouted the Shinichi as an imposter and calling Conan as Shinichi.

Once she had calmed down slightly and cleared her head, she pondered what changes she should secretly implement based on the new information she had obtained. The first thought that came to her head was letting have more of his 'sick days' off school. He probably hates having to be back in elementary school. Ran giggled despite the situation. Giving him freer rein at the crime scenes came to her as her second thought. She wondered for a moment if it was a bad thing that that was one of her first thoughts. She shook it off; after all, everyone knew Shinichi was a body magnet and try not to speak his real name at any cost. Her next few thoughts all had to do with ways to embarrass Shinichi, such as picking him up more, taking him shopping for cute little kid clothes (and forcing him to try them on), and talking about Shinichi more around him. Ran giggled again, she was going to have fun with this situation.

She should have been mad, and she had every right to be. But she was kind and loved the baka mystery otaku, and completely understood his reasons, as much as had been unintentionally explained to her anyway. Even though 'Conan' couldn't tell Ran anything, Ran found out on her own, without him knowing. It was the best possible situation, and had happened by accident. It seemed that fate was paying him back for all the stuff they threw at him. Ran knew, and Shinichi didn't know. Ran felt excited by the prospect, Conan could keep up his act like normal; he wouldn't have to worry about letting his guard down too much. "What am I supposed to do?" Ran asked herself through her tears. "I feel so useless!". She thought she need to think how to deal with it. Maybe one day Ran would clue him in, let him know she found out. The look on his face would be priceless.

Ran set down the notebook. "I can't believe it, Conan really is Shinichi! Why does he think that I need protecting!?" Half of her wanted to kick the half-pint detective into next week…but another part of her could see the pain that he was going through. She could tell from his words that he felt the same way…that he really missed her. She could see that his guilt was tearing him from the inside and he was feeling miserable. The incident of me coming drunk had tear his heart into pieces and forced him to express his feelings for. She put the journal back.

 _Entry #6_

 _This week has been torture! It seems as if Ran is treating me even MORE like a kid! What did I ever do to deserve this!? I guess that now that I'm thinking about it…I kind of do deserve it for lying to her. Earlier this week, she insisted that she help me with my homework since my teacher said that I hadn't been paying attention in class. Why should I have to pay attention if I already know the material!? Then at dinner the next day, she cut up my food for me! I've always been able to do it myself! Why did she suddenly do it for me!? I'm not a little kid!_

 _Sometimes I feel so alone. Everyone is always looking down on me…and I don't just mean my height! It's frustrating to have to go through childhood all over again, hiding from a secret crime syndicate! I don't know what to do. I wonder if I should talk to Hattori…knowing him, he'd just tease me about it. Haibara isn't much help either. I could feel myself coming close to the breaking point! I feel like the whole world is on my shoulders sometimes. I feel so stuck, trapped…and alone._

 _Letter 6_

 _Dear Ran,_

 _How have you been? To be honest I haven't been that great this week. It feels like something is different to last week but I can't place what. Anyway, this week I watched you shopping. You seemed happier than usual. I am so glad that you can still smile. Even though you don't notice my presence, it seems like you are smiling just for me, and it made me smile too. I was thinking of buying you a present, but I wasn't sure what to get you. And, if I gave you a present, you would no doubt want to see me. Damn this whole situation! If only you knew, Ran. Everything would be better and worse all at once. Sometimes I play different situations in my mind; different ways in which you could find out, and all the different ways you could react. Every way I look at it, I can't think of a solution. There is no fool proof plan. Every option still leaves a chance that I could lose you. I just can't take that risk! Not yet, not when_ they _are still out there. I want to make sure you are safe completely before you decide whether or not you'll forgive me. And… I don't think I would be able to finish this if I knew you wouldn't be there for me at the end. There wouldn't be a point! I would be better off staying as Conan, because if you left there would be nothing else left for Shinichi to return for anyway._

 _There. I finally said it, Ran. The truth, the whole truth; something that before this whole façade started was so important to me. I still believe the truth is important. But this time, knowing the truth could cost someone their life. I had no choice; if I did I would have chosen another option. To live so long going against my morals, against something I have tried so hard to keep… it's hard._

 _I hadn't meant to say everything straight out like I have. I guess I needed it let it out. I only wish that I could have actually told you. This week has been hard, watching you seem so happy and free but not being able to talk with you and be beside in my true form. Even if you knew, would you treat me the same? Would you treat me as Shinichi? Or Conan? It sucks being treated as a little kid! Even if you knew, I know that you would have to treat me the same, for sake of appearances. It's just so unfair. But don't worry please, Ran. I can deal with it, I always have. I have been on my own since I was 14, remember? I'm used to doing things on my own._

 _I hope you have a great week, Ran._

 _Love your Shinichi._

Conan put the journal back underneath his futon. It was Saturday already and he was glad that he didn't have to go back to school today. He felt so tired. With Ran treating him like a little kid, he had to keep his acting up even more to hide how annoyed he was. "What's wrong with her? She normally doesn't treat me like that." Conan stood up, feeling a little bit dizzy. He ignored it and walked to the living room, hardly paying attention to where he was going.

Ran of course, had decided that the best revenge was to give Shinichi exactly what he wanted. "If he insists on acting like a little kid, than I'm going to treat him like a little kid!" She thought stubbornly. Conan didn't seem annoyed, but know Shinichi, it must have been very frustrating! She knew that he knew how much he was hurting her! It was only fair that he felt the same! However, there was a part of Ran that wanted to hug him, and never let him go. "He lied to me right to my face over and over again! A little bit of pay back won't hurt anything!"

She saw Conan walked into the living room. She didn't want to admit it but the boy seemed more tired than usual. It was more than just worn out though. Something just seemed…off. She put down the dishes that she had been cleaning and ran over to the shrunken detective. As she got closer, Ran saw that Conan's face was red. "Conan! Are you okay!?" She asked worriedly.

Conan looked up at her with familiar eyes. "I'm fine." He replied. The last thing he needed was for Ran to be worried. His answer did little to ease her worries at all.

She wasn't quite sure why she hid, but she both was glad of her decision and regretted it. He had never seemed more like Shinichi than in that moment. Ran held her breath as she saw the scene in front of her unfold. Shinichi was all but crying, and she could see everything he had gone through in his eyes. The pain, the terror, his emotions were brought to light, for the first time Ran had seen in a long time, she knew what Shinichi was feeling. A hand flew to her mouth as she realized how much he was hiding from everyone. It lasted only a minute at most, but it felt like an eternity. When the mask was slammed back on, she felt her eyes watering. How many days had she seen Conan wear that look after she had yelled at Shinichi on the phone? When she first found out, she thought he cared only a little bit. Now she knew that he just hid it too well.

She was scared. Shinichi, someone who she had known to be so fearless, even in front of murderers, was terrified of someone, or more likely, a very large group of people. She was glad she knew. After all this, Shinichi would most likely keep it too himself, but she would not let him face his demons alone. She would help him to overcome all of the trauma that he has and will continue to go through. She hated seeing him like that, and part of her regretted hiding and watching him. But the other part of her was truly glad. She would be able to help Shinichi, now that she knew how he really felt. All she needed to do was see the letter to find some context.

Although Shinichi couldn't think of a way she could help, and didn't want her to, she would help him, and knew just how. She would support him, and help him overcome the internal demons. She vowed to smile, and help him to keep hope alive. And she would believe in him. Because right now, Ran felt the Shinichi didn't even believe in himself.

She placed her hand on his forehead and her eyes grew wide. "You are not fine! You have a fever! You should be in bed!" She grabbed Conan's arm to drag him back to his room. Conan pulled it back.

"Will you quit treating me like I'm a little kid!?" He demanded. Ran stared at him. Conan had never talked back to her before, no matter what.

"Why shouldn't I treat you like a kid!? Last time I checked, you were a kid!" She yelled back. Conan, who had looked like he was about to continue saying something, stopped with his mouth open. He closed it quickly and looked down at the ground, defeated.

"You're right. I'm just a kid. I'm sorry." He turned to go back to his room. What Ran had said was like a slap to his face. For a moment there, he had felt like he was Shinichi again, having one of his arguments with his childhood friend. But he had to be thrown back into reality. He wasn't Shinichi Kudo, high school detective. He was Conan Edogawa, just another half-pint grade schooler.

Suddenly, he was hugged from behind. Conan couldn't move. Ran couldn't let him go. She could feel tears coming to her eyes, and she tried to hold them back. She couldn't let Shinichi see her cry…not now. "I'm so sorry, Conan. I don't know what came over me." She said more calmly than she felt. A moment later, she felt something wet fall onto her arm. "Is Shinichi…crying!?" The two stayed like that for what seemed like forever.

Finally, Conan spoke. "I should probably get to bed." Ran let him go. Before Conan reached the bedroom door, he stopped. "Thanks Ran," he said quietly. Ran watched him go.

As soon as the door was closed, Ran sat down on the couch and cried. "You're not alone, Shinichi! I wish that you could see that I'm here for you!"

Ran awoke and turned to look at her bedside alarm clock. Her eyes widened as she read the time, '10:46', and all but jumped out of bed. She rushed to quickly get changed before heading to the kitchen to make some pancakes for herself and Conan for brunch. She hummed to herself as she cooked, putting the incidents of this morning in the back of her mind, at least until she got to read the letter herself. She was so focused on turn the pancakes at just the right time, that she didn't even realize Conan sneaking up on her. His eyes were still half-closed and his face was tilted upwards slightly, as if he had followed the scent of the pancakes into the kitchen. Ran giggled despite herself, the situation was too funny. One of Conan's eyes snapped open at the sound of her giggling, the other stayed half-closed, showing he was still sleep-walking. Ran could not hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. Conan looked even funnier with one eye practically shut and the other open.

This time, Conan managed to get both of his eyes open. "Ran…" He managed to say sleepily. Ran calmed down from her outburst of laughter and smiled down at him. "I am glad to know you are looking forward to my pancakes" She spoke quietly as she patted Conan on the head. That earned her a very disgruntled look from Conan, which only made her giggle more. As she turned her attention back to the frying pan in front of her, she told Conan to go and grab some toppings to put on the table. A soft 'hai' could be heard as Conan opened the cupboard door and began browsing. The first thing he reached for was the lemon juice and the sugar. Next to come out was the strawberry jam and honey, followed by the butter and golden syrup. His arms were full as he walked over and put the range of toppings on the table. Only a moment later Ran followed carrying a plate full of hot pancakes.

Conan and Ran talked little as they ate; focused more on their meals than conversation. As soon as they were finished, Conan began putting the toppings back into the cupboard. Ran smiled as she took the dishes, leaving them in the sink to be washed up later. Ran was determined to try to cheer Conan up today, so she was going to do everything she could think of to try and put a sincere smile onto his face. She grabbed her phone as she walked into her bedroom, and called a number she knew well, Shinichi's number.

Back in the kitchen, Conan began to panic when he saw Ran was calling him. He raced into his room, silently shutting the door so as not to seem suspicious to Ran. 'Why would she be calling me?' That single thought floated through his mind as he grabbed his bowtie, changing the setting whil pressing 'answer'.

" _Moshi moshi"_ Shinichi's voice flowed through the telephone lines to one Mouri Ran. Although she now knew the truth, she still loved hearing his voice.

"Shinichi!" She cried a smile evident in her voice.

" _Oh, it's you Ran."_ Shinichi's cool voice replied, _"How have you been?"_

"Great, Shinichi… Ummm…"

" _What is it, Ran?"_ Concern was evident in his voice as he spoke softly.

"…." Ran thought hard before she gave her reply. She was the one supposed to be cheering up Shinichi! Not the other way around.

"I… I just miss you, Shinichi. I missed hearing your voice. You really should call more often, you baka tantei!"

" _I know, Ran. I miss…."_

"Shinichi? What were you saying?"

" _Hm? No…Nothing, I wasn't saying anything."_

Ran's laughter echoed through the phone line, turning one Kudo Shinichi very pink on the other end.

"You liar!" She joked.

" _I am glad to get to hear your laughter again, Ran… Oh! I mean… I haven't talked to you in ages…. And I was worried if you were happy… not that I was too worried about you or anything… I was a bit, but! Argh."_ Shinichi rambled on the phone trying to cover up his accidental honesty.

This sent Ran into another set of giggles.

"It's so sweet of you to worry, Shinichi"

" _I wasn't!... I give up. So maybe I was a little worried about you."_

"…." Shinichi's confession from his own mouth shocked her speechless.

"… _an? Ran?_ _ **RAN?"**_ Shinichi's voice finally registered.

"Sorry Shinichi, I just didn't expect you to actually admit it."

" _I!"_ Ran could tell Shinichi was blushing.

"I worry about you too, Shinichi. You better stay safe, you hear me? Who knows what kind of dangerous case you could have got yourself into! I… I don't mind if you don't return for a while Shinichi. But please! At least call me more often, Shinichi?"

"… _."_ In his room, Shinichi's mouth was hanging open. Ran always asked when he was coming back. Had she found out? Or worse, had she secretly moved on?

" _Ran, Ran! I promise I will stay safe, or at least try to."_ His voice suddenly changed to a soft voice as he continued, _" Thank you for waiting for me, Ran. And for believing in me. When I get back I will treat you to a shopping trip…. Ummm… but, don't go too crazy, I want to survive long enough to graduate high school."_

"Shinichi…."

" _I am glad I got to talk to you again, Ran. I'll chat to you later, alright?"_

"Shinichi!"

" _Ja ne, Ran."_

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

And with that, the line went dead. Ran stared at her phone screen a moment longer, before her face lit up. Her mission had been accomplished, she got Shinichi to smile again, and, she even got him to promise to be careful and call her more. Ran was over the moon. She exited her room and saw Shinichi exit his also. 'Time to test my acting skills again', she thought to herself.

"Conan-kun!"

"Ah! Ran-neechan!"

Conan gave Ran his kiddy smile, and Ran kept her smile on her face. 'Shinichi, how did this happen to you? I know everything I need in order to understand why, but nothing about how it actually happened. Or how you can return to your normal body.' Ran had to stop a sad smile coming to her face as a result of her musings. Conan, (or should she call him Shinichi?), would definitely had noticed had she done that. The last thing she wanted was Shinichi finding out. How the tables had turned since the beginning, now it was Ran keeping a secret from Shinichi.

"Conan-kun, do you want to go shopping? I heard there was a new mystery book coming out today."

Shinichi really looked like the child he appeared to be to the world as his face lit up as he replied with a cheery "Hai!"

Ran smiled to herself as she reached instinctively for 'Conan's' hand, letting go only to put their shoes on. They walked in a content silence to the bookstore, in a rare moment where, for once, it wasn't Ran-neechan holding Conan-kun's hand, but Ran lightly holding Shinichi's hand, although he may not have realized.

At the bookstore, Conan practically dragged Ran to the mystery section like a dog sometimes drags its master. Ran let Conan browse at his own leisure, and went to wander around the bookstore herself, not going into any particular section. She looked at all the different books, seeing if any of them caught her eye. She turned into a random isle, and her eyes seemed to grow bigger as she saw the perfect book to get for Conan. It was one of those 'practice kanji' workbooks. She grabbed the grade 1 book, and proceeded to get Conan.

They headed to the counter together, but Ran would not let Conan see what book she got him, no matter how much he asked. It took all of her self-control not to laugh. 'Let's just call my teasing pay back for not telling me', Ran thought to herself. As she put the book up on the counter to pay, she was overjoyed to find it on sale.

"Conan-kun, let's test your math skills!" Ran asked Conan with a smile.

"Okay Ran-neechan!" Conan answered brightly.

"If this book is 10% off from the original price, how much is it now?"

"Hmmm…" Conan went into his thought mode, thought Ran knew he already had the answer. After a minute of silence, in which the cashier had smiled at Conan, thinking he was a cute little kid, Conan spoke up again.

"I know! The price would be this!"

"Very good little boy!" The cashier commended him.

"hehe" Conan put on a cute triumphant kiddy smile, as he got handed a lollipop.

Ran was bursting with laughter internally, knowing how annoyed Shinichi must feel inside. She reclaimed his small hand in hers as they walked back to the agency. 'That was fun', thought Ran. 'I must try thinking of other ways to tease Shinichi.'

Back at the agency, Ran presented Conan with his new book. He stared at it, dumbfounded, for a few seconds before regaining his composure and taking the book from Ran with a big (fake) smile and a 'Thank you Ran-neechan'. Ran sent him downstairs to the office to work through the book while she did the housework. Despite Conan's offers to help, she insisted he go downstairs and enjoy his new book. As soon as Conan disappeared, and Ran had checked that he definitely went downstairs, she went to her father's and Shinichi's room, and reached for his book in his pillow case. She opened to the page of the newest letter, and saw that it, too, had to be read with Conan's special glasses. After she had placed them on her face, she began to read.

Ran laughed at Shinichi not picking up that it was her subtle actions, letting him stay up a bit later, and giving him more freedom to investigate crime scenes, that had changed. And she was surprised that he thought her smile was just for him. In truth, it was, but she was sure he wouldn't pick up on it. His raw emotions were spilled during his writing of the letter, and it made Ran want to laugh, cry, and give him a hug all at once. Shinichi was actually kind and considerate, though not many people saw it. He rarely expressed his emotions so openly, and she loved being able to know what he really felt. She had figured that it would be hard for him to go against his morals and lie to her for so long, that was why she kept on giving up her ideas about them being the same, but she would never had understood fully if she hadn't seen his reaction last night.

"Shinichi…." His name barely left her lips she spoke so softly. She couldn't express how she felt about it. He must have felt worse than her, and yet he was still able to keep up his mask. When she read the last few lines, tears welled up in her eyes, and she began silently choking on her tears. Alone… Shinichi was always alone, apart from her, and to some extent, Sonoko. No-one else really knew him. And no-one ever was there for him, he always did everything on his own, never asked for help. Ran felt guilty, knowing everything he had done for her. She remembered the Tanabata incident when she was a child. She couldn't remember who told her it was Shinichi's handiwork, but she always felt grateful to him for it.

It was like she was being read the letter by Shinichi himself, she could hear exactly how he would say each part. It was so like him to make sure she was okay and keep asking about her. Sure, he used to talk about Holmes all the time, but he would be continuously thinking about her in the back of his mind, like the fountain at Tropical Land.

She couldn't doubt that he loved her. She knew that now. And she knew her feelings for him. So she would stand by him, even if no-one else did. Because she understood him, and she loved him. He would always be _her_ baka mystery otaku. Ran placed the glasses back between the pages and returned the book to its original place hidden in the pillow case. She didn't realize that tears had been running down her face until she put her hand to her face to wipe her eyes.

"I will always love you, Shinichi." Her whispered promise was wasted in the empty room, and she quickly stood up and went back to doing the housework. She had to keep her mask on for a while longer, for Shinichi's sake. But she knew, in the end, it would be all worth it.

It had been a whole week since Conan was sick. Him and the Detective Boys were playing soccer in the park. Ran had gone back to treating him like normal, but she also insisted that they spend more time together. She even stayed at the park to watch him and his friends play!

"Is Ran really alright? There's something strange about the way that she's been acting." Conan thought as he bounced the soccer ball on his head absentmindedly. For a moment, he thought that he saw a sad smile flash on Ran's face…but then it was gone.

"Conan! Pass the ball already!" Mitsuhiko yelled.

"Yeah! Quit being a show-off!" Genta added. Conan sighed and passed the ball.

"Does it count as showing off if I'm holding back?" He wondered.

Ran watched the kids play. She noticed that Conan acted differently around them, almost like his old self. She could tell that he was still holding back and acting but he seemed more relaxed around his grade-school friends. "Especially Haibara…he mentioned her in that journal…Does she know the truth?" She glanced at Haibara, who was sitting right next to her. Haibara wasn't really the athletic type and tended to just watch the other kids having fun.

In a way, Ran was kind of jealous of the Detective Boys. They seemed to be able to bring a natural smile to Conan's face. She let out a loud sigh.

"What's wrong?" Haibara asked, her face expressionless. Haibara seemed to be even more mature than Conan sometimes, it kind of made Ran uneasy.

"I was just thinking of how brave Conan was." She replied after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"He's been through so much! He's almost been killed multiple times, kidnapped, seen tons of murder and crime scenes…he's always acting like it's no big deal! He's away from his parents and he's always doing stupid, reckless things! He's always putting others before himself!" Ran started crying. "I try to be there for him but he keeps shutting me out."

Haibara nodded. "To be clear, are we talking about Edogawa or Kudo?" Ran stared at her. She suddenly realized that even though they were the same person, Conan and Shinichi led two very different lives! Yet, somehow, he was able to maintain the same traits about him…the things that made him who he was.

"I guess both. Shinichi hasn't called me in a while…I'm just worried. Conan looks so much like Shinichi that I can't help but wonder what he's up to!" Ran lied. Haibara glared at her for a moment before nodding.

"I guess that it's understandable. I used to think the same thing about someone very close to me."

Ran nodded, unsure of who Haibara used to be so worried about all the time. She looked back to the field and saw Ayumi hugging Conan. She could see that Genta and Mitsuhiko were pretty mad about that. She couldn't blame them. She felt the same way. "Shinichi, what are you doing!?" Ran blinked. She was jealous of a little kid! What was wrong with her!?

 _Entry #7_

 _Ran didn't talk to me on the way home. I have no idea what I did to make her so mad! I don't understand women at all! Still, Ran has got to be the bravest person that I have ever met. She's so amazing in everything she does! I wish I could tell her that. She deserves someone better than me. Someone who wouldn't make her wait for them to grow up._

 _I wish that I could be brave like her. I put her through so much! If only I could go back in time. I would have made sure that none of this ever happened!_

 _Mitsuhiko and Genta are mad at me too. It's not my fault that Ayumi has a crush on me! I feel bad because I'm eventually going to have to leave the Detective Boys when I get my body back. Even though Genta says that he's the leader, they all seem to follow my lead…when they're not trying to show me up on their own._

 _I think I'm going to call Ran tonight. What happened last week was kind of…awkward. I can't believe that I actually cried again in front of Ran. She probably thought that it was just the tears of a child who got yelled at. I hate this whole thing! People shrinking should stay in science fiction! I never wanted any of this…but it's too late now. If only Ran knew the truth…I'm so pathetic. I'm nothing but a coward, afraid to tell Ran how I really feel. I wish that I could be brave._

She's close enough to touch. And yet, I cannot. She touches me, but I cannot touch back, not in the way I desperately crave to. She touches me, she hugs me, she confides in me. But somehow, it is not enough. It is never enough.

Everyday, she's here beside me, but she doesn't see me. All she sees is this little boy. This boy who had become my refuge and my prison. This little boy who had taken away all that I loved and treasured. This little boy who made sure that all that I was is wiped away, and all that remained is an empty shell.

Everyday, the pain in my heart gets to be a little more unbearable each day. But it will never measure to the pain she is suffering. She is suffering. I know that. But is she lamenting the loss of a lover, or that of a best friend?

Guilt eats at me.

Though I would never want to hurt her, there is a part in my heart that wishes for her to miss me, to pine for me, to wait for me.

Is that so bad?

Perhaps.

Perhaps.

I do not even know if I can go back to the way I was. And even without that certainty, is it greed to wish that she wait for me? But I cannot help the way I feel, any more that I can change my situation.

Even if a part of me knows that she would be better off if she meets someone new and move on, a greater part of me revolts at the idea. She is mine, as I am hers. We belong together.

Together.

But what am I to do when she finally gets over me?

What am I to do when she meets someone new?

What am I to do when she moves on?

What am I to do without her?

She is my life. She is my heart. She is my soul. Maybe it's the time to stop thinking and start acting. I will not let anyone take her away from me, not even destiny, or fate, or chance. I will move mountains to be with her again.

I will not fail. I will not fail.

I will come back.

While lying thinking he realized that his suspicion on Ran moving on were turning into reality.

 **Flashbacks**

To say that Conan Edogawa was worried was an understatement. He felt as if he finally encountered a case he cannot solve. He was confused, baffled, defeated even. And worse, he also knew that this was one of the most important case of he would ever come across. But he was frustrated that he cannot fathom its depths, or worse, he doesn't want to.

There is only one truth.

How many times had he told himself, and anyone with him, that very same thing? Conan sighed as he crossed the street towards the phone booth. He then waited for his turn, silently urging the woman who was using it to hurry it up.

Yes, there is only one truth. And maybe the truth was about to kick him in the face; only he didn't want to see it. Maybe the case wasn't unsolvable after all; only he didn't want to accept the truth behind it. Maybe this was actually the easiest case he had to solve; only the solution would go against everything he believed in.

He cringed inwardly. This is one of those cases where one cannot win.

But, he had to gather more evidences before he concede defeat.

The woman who was talking non-stop in the phone booth finally replaced the receiver in its cradle and stepped out. She smiled at Conan and ruffled his hair. "I'm sorry I took so long. My son was having problem with his homework. Are you calling your mother?"

My girlfriend, actually, Conan thought to himself. Or rather, the girl whom he thought was just his friend, until the weird events in his life unfolded. And more precisely, the woman whom he wished was his girlfriend. But he merely nodded to the woman.

"That's nice," the woman commented. "Young people nowadays don't think of calling home if they plan on staying home late."

Conan ignored the woman's chatter. He had to talk to Ran. Well, Shinichi had to talk to Ran to clear things out.

You see, Ran is happy lately, very happy. Too happy.

Conan sighed as he endured the woman's babble.

Not that Ran being happy was a bad thing.

In fact he wanted her to be happy. Ever since Shinichi left and Conan appeared, there was always a hint of sadness in Ran's eyes. He would often see tears in her eyes at night whenever she remembers him.

But nowadays, she seemed unusually happy. She's cheerful and bouncy and perky, in short, she was back to her usual self before Shinichi left.

It's been a while since she last cried.

At first, he didn't understand why. He simply assumed that she was beginning to adjust to a life without Shinichi, her best friend, her soul mate, her other half. That thought scared him to no end. But he had no idea that the truth would scare him even more.

His suspicion was almost confirmed a few days ago. He had just come back with Kogoro Mouri from solving another murder, or rather, Conan had solved the case while the Sleeping Detective took all the credit for it.

"We're home," Conan announced happily as he entered the door, kicked off his shoes, and stepped into his slippers. There was nothing like a baffling murder case to uplift his spirit. "Ran-neechan!" He called out.

"Ran!" Detective Mouri Kogoro also called out. "What's for dinner?" As he stepped inside, he tripped on Conan and they both fell down. "Stupid kid!" He grumbled as Conan scrambled away, aware that if Mouri caught him, he would get another smack on the head.

Conan's ears perked up. He heard soft laughter emanate from their living room. "What the-" He peeked into the room, careful not to be seen by whoever's in there.

What he saw shocked him.

Ran was in the arms of another man!

OK, so maybe, not in the arms of the another man, but she and a guy Conan had never saw before was sitting very close on the couch, their heads bend together, deep in conversation.

The man smiled at her. "It's OK, Ran," he Conan heard the man say.

Ran blushed and nodded.

"R-ran," Conan gasped. He felt a painful cramp on his stomach, like someone just hit him there.

"Ran?" The man softly called out to her. Then, he took her hand and enveloped it in his.

I never held her like that as Shinichi, Conan lamented. Why, Ran? Why?

"Y-yes?" Ran asked tentatively.

"Look at me," the guy instructed.

"Huh?"

"I will be waiting for your answer, Ran," he said. "But I'm a patient man. I could wait."

Ran nodded as she turned an even deeper shade of red. She looked at the guy's eyes.

"Ran!" A voice thundered. "What's the meaning of this?"

Conan was never so relieved to hear the thundering voice of Ran's father.

In surprise, Ran and the guy jumped apart.

"D-dad," Ran began.

"Good afternoon, sir," the guy greeted without skipping a beat.

"Who are you?" the elder Mouri demanded.

The guy bowed lowly. "My name is Shinoda Akira," he replied as he straightened up. "And you must be the best detective in Japan, Mouri Kogoro."

Mouri Kogoro laughed, immediately warming up to the stranger. "That's right. Once again my reputation precedes me."

A bead of sweat dropped from Conan's head. What a simpleton, he thought to himself, easily distracted by a compliment.

"Dad, Shinoda-kun is a new student in my class." Ran explained.

"Ran-neechan?" Conan asked as he tugged at Ran's skirt.

Shinoda looked down. "You must be Edogawa Conan," he smiled at him as he squatted down. "I brought something for you," he said as he reached in his pocket.

A lollipop? You're trying to bribe me with a lollipop? Conan had no choice but to take the lollipop Shinoda was giving him.

Shinoda suddenly ruffled his hair.

"Aah!" Conan cried as he moved out of Shinoda's reach.

Ran laughed. "He's sort of mature for his age, Shinoda-kun,"

Like you wouldn't believe, Conan thought to himself as he frantically smoothened his hair. It suddenly became important to him not to look like a slob in front of Shinoda, who looked like he just stepped out from a men's fashion magazine.

"And what were you doing with my only daughter?" Mouri demanded, regaining his composure.

"Oh, dad, we were only talking," Ran replied.

Shinoda nodded. "I have an interesting proposition for your very beautiful daughter." He replied as he twisted around to look at Ran.

Ran blushed. "Thank you," she replied demurely.

"Can I talk to you in private, Detective Mouri?" Shinoda asked. "I want to inform you of my interest in your daughter."

Mouri nodded.

"Come on, Conan, let's leave them be." Ran told Conan as she dragged him to the kitchen. "I'll make you some snacks."

"But-" Conan's protests were ignored as Ran firmly led him away.

Ran instructed Conan to sit at the kitchen table.

"What are they talking about?" Conan asked as he watched Ran rummage around the cupboards.

Ran, once again, blushed. "My future," she sighed.

Ran's future? Does that mean-

Conan couldn't even get himself to finish that sentence. Surely Ran wouldn't gamble her future with a man she just met.

Then, Ran took out a small, velvet box from her pocket. She opened it and tenderly gazed inside.

Conan's eyes widened. An engagement ring? No! It couldn't be true! It's impossible.

Then, Ran took out the ring and slipped it in her fingers. She then surveyed its effects on her hand.

Ran.

"What?" Conan almost fell out of his chair at Mouri's loud protests. "You're stealing my daughter away from me?"

"Oh, dad," Ran groaned and her head fell in her hands. She then looked at Conan then smiled.

Conan forced himself to smile back, but all he really wanted was to go to Shinoda and beat him up for stealing Ran away from him.

But Ran was never mine in the first place.

Conan heard Shinoda's muffled plea for Mouri to calm down.

Ran slipped the ring off her fingers and returned it to the box.

"Never!" Mouri announced. "I will never let you take her away! Never!"

Conan took refuge with the knowledge that Mouri would never allow his only daughter to be at the hands of this stranger.

Still, he wanted to see and hear from himself.

After eating (which Conan did in record time), he and Ran went back to the conferring men. Actually, he went, Ran tried to keep him away from the room, but failed.

Conan was surprised when he went to the living room and saw the calm Mouri talking with Shinoda.

"This young man was very convincing, Ran," Mouri told her daughter in defeat. "He wouldn't take no for an answer."

Shinoda grinned. "I told myself and my parents years ago that if I saw someone like Ran, I would never let her go,"

I should've promised myself the same thing, Conan thought as the very sight of Shinoda made him want to lose whatever it is he just ate.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Ran?" Mouri asked. "This could change your entire life. And considering that you just met this guy," Mouri's voice trailed off as he glared at Shinoda.

"I haven't decided yet, dad," Ran admitted.

"And I'm not forcing her to." Shinoda replied. "I'm willing to wait for as long as it takes,"

"Anyway, you have my permission." Mouri said. "But it's your decision to make." He looked at Ran meaningfully. " I want you to think about it carefully."

"I am thinking about it." Ran said. "It's just that I don't want to make a decision without consulting someone first."

Mouri got up with a 'hmp!' "I wonder how he would react to this."

He? Shinichi, no doubt. Conan thought. He once again cursed the state he was in. If only he hadn't followed those men in black.

"I know, Ran." Shinoda said. "I understand. I'm giving you all the time in the world to decide about it. But think about what I'm offering you. I could make all of your dreams come true, if only you would say yes."

Ran nodded. "Thank you,"

"Well, anyway, I better go now. It's getting late. My mom's probably wondering what happened to me," Shinoda said.

"I'll walk you to the door," Ran offered.

Walk him to the door? Ran! What are you doing? "I'm coming too!" Conan called as he took Ran's hand.

"Thanks again for everything, Shinoda-kun." Ran began.

"You're great, Ran." Shinoda told her with a dazzling smile. He then took Ran's hand, the one not being held by Conan. "And please," he said as he kissed Ran's hand. "Call me Akira," with that, he turned and left.

"What a slimy character," Conan commented. "Right, Ran-neechan? Ran- neechan? Hey Ran-neechan!"

And since that day, Ran had been happy.

Her happiness seems to be bubbling inside of her, unable to contain itself. It gave her face a certain glow, it added a new dimension to her laugh. And Conan hadn't thought it to be possible, but her newfound happiness made her more beautiful.

If only he was the one who was able to give her that happiness.

Conan mentally shook himself.

There is only one truth. And the truth is Ran likes Shinichi. She told Conan so herself. She might even be in love with him. She couldn't just wake up one day and decide she's over him, right? Love doesn't have a switch that you could just flip on and off, right? Surely, he was just being paranoid. Akira Shinoda was simply Ran's adoring classmate. True, Akira Shinoda may be interested in Ran, but it was Shinichi whom she would choose. Knowing how loyal and devoted Ran is, she would wait for Shinichi, wouldn't she?

"Just how long do you intend to wait?" Sonoko demanded as she took a long sip of her drink. "How long do you intend to play second fiddle to Shinichi's cases?"

"Huh?" Conan frowned.

The three of them were having lunch after serious shopping that left Conan weak and exhausted. He earned respect for women after that experience. How could they possibly walk for hours at end, wearing high-heeled shoes and carrying heavy bags of items and still go out for more?

Ran made a face. "I could ask you the same question," she replied easily. "How long so you plan to play second fiddle to Kyougoku-san's karate tournaments?"

"Ouch," Sonoko grinned. "You got me there. But being a karate champion and all, you, of all people, should understand him,"

Ran laughed.

"Honestly, did he call you up lately?" Sonoko asked, once again turning the tables.

Ran nodded. "He called two days ago, but he's still cryptic, as usual. He refused to talk about the case he's working on."

"How about Shinoda Akira?" Sonoko asked. "The two of you are getting close lately."

"Him?" Ran laughed. "Well, he is kinda cute."

Conan choked on his drink.

"Conan, are you OK?" Ran asked worriedly as she tapped his back lightly.

Conan continued coughing but nodded his head.

"And," Sonoko continued. "How long do you intend to play mother of that kid?"

"OK, then, call your mom now," with one last pinch on Conan's cheek, the woman walked away.

Conan sighed in relief as he absent-mindedly touched his throbbing cheek. Finally, he could call Ran.

With one a deep breath to affirm his resolve, he struggled to reach the receiver and dial the number. He knew that Ran would be home at this time, probably cleaning after her father.

There is only one truth. And he intends to find out the truth regarding Ran's relationship with Akira Shinoda.

Kogoro Mouri answered after the second ring. "Kogoro Detective Agency," he barked.

"Is Ran-chan there?" Conan asked, using his voice-changing bowtie.

"Kudo?" Mouri asked. "Why? You want to make her cry again?"

Conan groaned. Not now. He wasn't in the mood. "Please," he begged the man, and he hated to beg. "This is an emergency."

Mouri sighed. "So you've heard, eh?" Conan could've sworn that Mouri's voice became softer, with a hint of sympathy. "Try to talk her out of it if

you can," he told Conan as he placed the phone down.

A second later, Conan heard Mouri calling for her daughter.

"Hello?" A breathless Ran asked when Conan heard her.

That was a good sign. It meant that Ran had run to the phone when she found out that Shinichi was on the other end. She was excited to talk to him. Conan smiled in relief. Surely, everything would be fine.

"Akira-kun?" Ran asked. "Let me just catch my breath. I ran all the way when I heard-"

Conan felt that a spear had struck his heart. "It's Shinichi." Conan corrected her flatly.

"Shinichi?" Ran thought why would he call. Then, she laughed. "Hey, I'm sorry, I was expecting a call from someone and-"

"Conan called me."

"C-Conan?" Ran repeated.

"He told me everything," Shinichi said.

"Really?" Ran asked him. "That's good."

"G-good?"

"Yes. Now I wouldn't have to worry about explaining to you everything. I'm sorry, I should've told you sooner." Ran told him. "But with everything happening and all, I just didn't have time to-"

"That's fine, Ran. I understand." Shinichi said flatly.

"Shinichi?" Ran asked. "What's wrong? You should be happy for me,"

Conan gulped. She was right. He should be happy for her. It was not as if they had something going on between them. They weren't boyfriend- girlfriend. Heck, he wasn't even interested in her as more than a friend when Shinichi left. She was his best friend. And if she's happy, he should be happy for her.

"I am happy for you," Conan said, forcing the lie out of his dry lips.

"That's great!" Ran exclaimed, the bounce and joy returning to her voice. "I'm sorry I couldn't wait for you anymore," with that statement, Ran's voice was filled with wistfulness.

So am I. "So, you've already decided."

"Yes," Ran said. "I mean, this is what I've dreamed of ever since I was a little girl. I'll be a fool if I let it slip through my fingers."

"I know," Shinichi said. But he always assumed that it would be with him.

"I just wish that you could be here with me," Ran said softly.

Me too.

"Maybe I could be less scared." Ran told him. "I'm a nervous wreck. I'm feeling as if something would happen and snatch this away from me."

"I wish I was there too," Conan said, fighting to keep his emotions in check. "Have you talked to your mom about this?"

"Not yet," Ran said. "I want Akira-kun to be with me when I talk to her, but somehow their schedules just doesn't meet up."

Conan heard a noise from Ran's end.

"Shinichi, I have a visitor. I'll talk to you later, OK?" Ran said as she put down the phone.

Then, one thing struck him as he listened to the angry busy tone. For the first time since Shinichi started calling her, she didn't ask where he was, or even when he will go home. Conan groaned. It means it's over. Ran was over him.

It was time to close the case. He just solved it. But he didn't feel the usual elation he feels after a case is closed. He felt crushed, defeated.

He just lost Ran.

"Shinichi, you're here." Professor Agasa greeted him as Conan walked in the door. Professor Agasa couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice, he was bursting to tell Shinichi the good news. But before he can comment on anything, he noticed the guy's downcast state.

"Did you tell him yet?" A small voice asked. Ai had just entered the living room, leaving the laboratory that kept her captive all day.

"What good news?" Conan asked, without a trace of curiosity in his voice.

"I got it!" She announced triumphantly. Her face broke into an uncharacteristic grin. "I discovered why the pill I originally created was only temporary. And I think I finally got the cure. Theoretically, this should work. Kudo-kun, here." She handed the pill to Conan. "I know that you would want to try it, risks and all."

Everything was now meaningless.

He looked at the pill Ai had given him. "I don't want it," he choked out as he gave it back to the shocked woman-cum-child.

He then turned on his heels and went out the door to walk home, or rather, to the Mouri Detective Agency.

Suddenly, searching for a cure to bring him back to his original age wasn't so important anymore. He had nothing to spur him to grow up. Surely being seven was better, at least he would still be with Ran.

Yes, he would much rather be seven and be with Ran than seventeen without her.

He thought of taking the pill to steal Ran away from Akira. But he knew that such an act would only make Ran confused and miserable. Hadn't he done enough to make her feel that way? And now, just when he found the man to make her happier, he had no right to once again shatter her happiness.

And what if she was never in love with Shinichi anyway? She just thought she was in love. And what if the thing with her Akira-kun was the real thing?

Conan shook his head. No. He would much rather be a kid than once again ruin Ran's chance to be happy. He owed her that much.

"Ran-neechan, I'm home!" He announced. But there was no Ran-neechan to greet him. He then poked around. He heard voices in Ran's room.

"I'm not sure I can do this," Conan heard Ran say.

"Don't be a chicken, Ran," Conan identified the voice as Sonoko's. "Don't let a small thing as primness stand in the way of getting what you want."

Conan didn't mean to eavesdrop, but-

"I don't think I can undress in front of a man, Sonoko," Ran said. "That would kill me with embarrassment."

Sonoko laughed. "But it's part of it, Ran," she replied. "Be brave."

Undress? Conan gasped.

"And I'm pretty sure he's OK about it. I mean, he's a perfect gentleman and everything," Sonoko encouraged her.

"This will be my first time, Sonoko." Ran told her. "I can't help but be nervous."

"Of course, you will." Sonoko said. "I was the first time too,"

Conan reddened when he realized what the two were talking about.

"Are you sure you want do it before?" Sonoko asked.

"Well, I just want to get over it, you know," Ran replied.

"Eh?" Sonoko giggled. "That's one way of putting it."

"Well, I trust him." Ran said. "And I would much rather do it now than keep worrying about it later,"

"Well, it's your decision," Sonoko said.

"Maybe I could talk to Kyougoko-kun about it,"

"You could. But I don't think he would be of much help. Wouldn't talking to a woman to underwent such a thing be more helpful?"

"And I would assume that by that you mean you?"

"Yes!" Sonoko replied. "Who else?"

Ran! Conan thought desperately. Where's your sense? At least wait for it at your wedding night! Conan slapped his head with his hand. What am I saying?

"So where will you stay afterwards?" Sonoko asked.

Ran shrugged. "Akira-kun said that we could temporarily live with his parents," she said. "After that, we'll look for a place."

"I'm going to miss you, Ran," Sonoko cried.

"Yeah," Ran said. "Me too,"

"Mother!" Conan heard Ran shout as he heard footsteps going up the stairs to the Mouri Detective Agency.

"And when were you planning to tell me about this?" Kisaki Eri demanded as Conan saw her burst in the room.

"Mom, I wanted to tell you with Akira-kun. I know you'll be asking questions that I wouldn't be able to answer." Ran argued as she appeared behind her mother.

Kisaki Eri frowned and sat down on the couch next to Conan who was pretending to do his homework. "You're too young, honey."

Conan concealed a grin. The wedding was off if Ran's mother refuse to give her consent.

"Akira-kun would be willing to wait until I turn at least eighteen." Ran argued. "Mom, please," she begged the older woman. "I really want to do this,"

Eri sighed as she looked long and hard at her daughter. "Fine," she said. "I want you and Shinoda-kun to be in my house tonight for dinner. I want to talk some sense into the two of you,"

Ran smiled.

Eri placed a hand on Conan's head. "What do you plan on doing about this boy?" Her face then broke into a smile. "You know that he and your father doesn't go along very well."

Ran shrugged. "I don't know," Ran admitted. " I would take him with me "

"Then you haven't thought about it enough, Ran," her mother said. "Don't rush yourself. Think again,"

Ran smiled as she sat down on Conan's other side. "I will, mother, I will."

"Shinichi," Professor Agasa called.

Conan turned to him. They had just finished a rather one-sided discussion of why he doesn't want to take the antidote. Ai was glaring at him.

Professor Agasa had let out a sigh, indicating his defeat.

The duo had done all the talking. But nothing, nothing, they can say or do will make him change his mind.

Unless-

Conan gave himself a mental shake. He mustn't think like that. Ran had made a decision. He wasn't it.

"Yes?" He asked suspiciously, preparing himself for another verbal tirade.

"I almost forgot. Eri-san called me. She told me to tell Shinichi to call her. She says she has something important to say." Agasa replied as he handed him a scrap of paper where he had hastily scribbled the lawyer's phone number.

Conan frowned as he felt his heart beat faster. He never met the woman as Kudo Shinichi. He wondered what she wanted from him. Conan sighed. Great. Just another thing to make my day.

Agasa and Ai left to give Conan-Shinichi-some privacy.

Conan adjusted his favorite bow tie, took a deep breath, and dialed.

"Kudo-kun," Eri Kisaki immediately plunged in after the necessary pleasantries. "I know you're sharp. And I also know that you already know why I want to talk to you."

Conan swallowed. He doesn't know why, but Ran's mother just strikes fear at his heart. He felt as if he would rather be talking to Vermouth right now (or whoever else she's masquerading as) than talk to her. "Eri- san," he began. "Ran had made her decision-"

"Are you so sure about that?" Eri interrupted him.

I hate lawyers. Conan groaned inwardly.

Then, Eri's tone softened. "I don't know you, Kudo-kun. You don't know me either. But from what I've heard of you, you're a smart boy. You see things that are normally ignored by other people. However, when it comes to my daughter…" Her voice trailed off.

When it comes to your daughter I become an emotional sap. "Ran is my friend."

Did Conan actually hear the prim and proper lawyer snort? "You, Mr. Detective, do not have a clue. What is it that Ran told me you always say about truth being one or the other?"

There is only one truth.

"And tell me the truth, how do you really feel about the latest development in Ran's life?" She demanded, the sharp edge returning to her voice once more. "And don't give me the bull you told her about you being happy for her and all,"

"Eri-san," Conan gasped. He knew her mind was sharp as a knife and her tongue twice so, but still.

This time, it was Eri who sighed. "Forgive me, Kudo-san. When it comes to Ran, my logic seems to fly out of the window."

Join the club.

"I don't want her to do this, Kudo-kun." She finally told him. "I cannot idly sit here and watch as she does something rash."

"But she made her decision, Eri-san," Conan repeated.

"Are you sure about that?"

I am a detective.

There is only one truth.

Edogawa Conan had slipped quietly in Professor Agasa's bathroom and locked the door. With rather shaky hands, he removed his glasses.

"Are you sure that it's what she really wants?" Eri had asked for the third time when he failed to give her an answer. "Or is she merely punishing you?"

Gingerly, he took out the pill Ai had given him. He eyed it warily. Then, his eyes traveled slowly from the pill in his hand to the mirror before him. Conan's eyes stared straight at him, unflinching, determined.

 _Entry #8_

 _I'm really worried about Ran. She stopped asking when I'm coming home on the phone. Does this mean that she's moved on? As much as it hurts, it's probably better this way. I'm not even sure if I could go back to normal…not permanently. The truth is I fear to lose her but I can't control her life , she has right to choose what she wanted. First time when I met Dr. Araide I thought probably I lost her because she seems so happy those days and every time She is with him she look happy. I know I should be happy for her but it's my heart that does not want to be happy then also I should smile so she could not notice it. In this body only my mind has not change so I should try to listen it not to heart. I should be happy for her in happiness._

 _I got a completed new temporary antidote with some errors that will last how much I don't know. I want to take it so that I could be with Ran but I know that I'm just going to have to leave her again. I can't keep hurting her like this. But if I don't do this, I'm afraid that I might really lose myself for good. Even if it's for a few hours, I want to be seen as Shinichi, not Conan. Plus, I need to know if Ran has truly moved on. If she has, this will probably be the last time that she'll see me as Shinichi. I don't want to hurt her more with confusing her. I would clear all this once for all._

 _Ran is still insisting on spending time with me all the time. It's really weird but also kind of nice. Ran isn't crying as much anymore and seems more happy. I really feel like I'm doing something to help her. Even my own smiles are less forced. Thank you, Ran. You make me feel as if I was normal…grown up, not just a kid._

 _Letter 7_

 _Dear Ran,_

 _My other letters have been really down. Have you noticed that? I honestly don't try to be such a bum but it just happens. I guess that is how people act when they have to hold everything in and finally are permitted to let it out. I was contemplating telling you this week. I am just being selfish, not answering your questions, saying it's for your safety. They would probably kill you anyway because you were friends with me. It's not like you could get any more dead anyway, if they decide to wipe everyone out. Honestly, however you react is fine with me. I would very well deserve whatever is coming._

 _On a lighter note (this letter isn't supposed to be as down as the other ones anyway), how have you been Ran? Anything coming up? Have you moved on? I wouldn't blame you if you did. Technically I never was your boyfriend anyway. I would love to change that though, if you were willing to forgive and wait for me. Why can I be so bold in my letters but not when I see you face to face? It's really annoying. I guess it's because I don't want you to reject me, and I freak out. And thanks for calling the other day, Ran. I hadn't smiled like that in a long time. I promise to call you hopefully this week and chat. Is that good enough for you? I wish I could do something more. You deserve more than a shopping trip when I get back. Maybe we could persuade my parents to let us go to Hawaii? I bet you could get a better shopping trip there. I would pay for you, of course._

 _But I truly thank you Ran. I am not sure if you can even comprehend how much your support and trust means to me. It is the main reason why I am seriously thinking of just telling you everything. I feel guilty having you put so much of your faith in me when I won't even tell you anything. Actually, I am doing worse than that by flat out lying to you. But you still believe in me. And it is truly a miracle. You truly are a beautiful angel, Ran. Please don't let anything taint your wings, even if that is my own selfishness._

 _I know I don't talk to you nearly enough. So I am going to make up for it by saying everything I should have and wanted to say but didn't. Ran, you are so kind, and I don't deserve to have you even as a friend, and I definitely aren't worthy of your love. You probably don't love me now though, do you? Anyway, you look beautiful in everything you wear, so don't bother asking me, you are stunning every time. Also, I was wondering if we should go on a double date with Sonoko-san and Makoto-san one time? It would save her spying on us during our date anyway. I mean… if you wanted to go on a date, of course. I don't want to force you into anything._

 _So…. There, I think that is everything. I look forward to calling you later this week. Stay safe Ran, and don't have too much fun without me! (Joking, of course)_

 _Love,_

 _Your Shinichi_

Conan put his journal away and got ready to go to Agasa's house. It was still early in the morning so both Ran and Kogoro were still asleep. Conan smiled as he placed down the pen. That letter had a better feel to it, it seemed a lot lighter and happier. He was also a lot more forward. Good thing Ran wouldn't really be reading the letter! But he really was hoping to call Ran this week. All his promises made to her, although Ran may not be aware of them, he tries his best to keep. Especially the ones he writes down. Conan didn't necessarily feel relieved of a weight from his shoulders like he had after the other letters, but he felt a great deal happier, almost as if he was really conversing with Ran.

As Conan packed up, he realized that, more than ever, he _needed_ Ran. He always knew that, to an extent, but Conan was at the point where her simple existence was bringing him joy. He would never admit it, because he was too afraid of losing her, but he would rather her be truly happy with someone else than miserable and angry with him. Her happiness meant more to him than his own. And that small revelation shocked him more than it probably should have. He had never fully understood love, or how someone could feel so strongly about one another like that. He couldn't explain how he felt, and he was beginning to realize love couldn't be explained. Everything anyone had ever told him was a massive understatement. It was the most amazing and most frightening feeling he had ever felt. To be able to love someone so much, to trust them so completely, and be so vulnerable to that one person; it made him speechless.

He was completely in awe at how something passed off so lightly all the time could really have such a strong emotional meaning. Conan just stood there, beside the office chair, his notebook still open on the desk, his pillow on the floor having been dropped from his hold. He stood there motionless for a while, before shaking his head and continuing to pack up. His thoughts, however, did not stop. It seemed so impossible to him, yet somehow he understood it. He couldn't explain it, but it just seemed right. It wasn't logical, and it didn't have any explanation. It wasn't something that could be deducted, because it was so much more complicated than any deduction. Yet it was so simple, something that didn't require much thought; because it wasn't something that could be decided with your brain, but known within your heart.

It was his heart that knew he had to tell Ran eventually; but it was his mind that was holding him back, saying 'it's too early', 'now's a bad time', or ' what would you do if you lost her?'. Now, his mind had fallen silent. Shinichi was fully in control 'Conan' and his safety didn't matter. He didn't care if Ran threw him out of the Mouri Detective agency and never wanted to see him again. His heat couldn't lie any longer. He wrote a quick note saying that he'd be playing video games all day and left.

"There is still the possibility of you dying. It's also going to hurt like hell growing and shrinking. Are you really sure that you want to take this?" Haibara asked, even though she knew what the shrunken detective's answer would be.

"Of course I'm sure! Besides," he mumbled. "That pain is nothing compared to what Ran must be feeling."

Haibara sighed and handed him a small pill. "There's a change of clothes already in the bathroom." Conan nodded and ran into the bathroom. "You're such an idiot, Kudo," Haibara thought. He was always doing things like this, risking his life just for Ran.

A few minutes later, a sweaty Shinichi Kudo came out of the bathroom. "Thanks Haibara! I'll be going now." He put on a hat and left the house with his head down. Wait for me, Ran.

Time Skip

Ran woke up to find a note from Conan on the coffee table in the living room. As she read it, she couldn't help but wonder what Conan…what Shinichi…was really doing over there. It seemed that every time Conan went to Agasa's, he either ended up in the hospital or Shinichi would visit. Ran's eyes suddenly grew wide. She quickly but quietly went into the room that Conan shared with her father and snuck the notebook into her room. She skipped the first five entries and read.

As soon as she finished reading the last entry, she felt a tear fall down her cheek. "That stupid mystery otaku! Shinichi, you are such an idiot!". She couldn't believe that Shinichi had really thought that she had moved on. She hadn't even realized that she had stopped pestering him about coming home. "I already knew where you were so I didn't need to ask…I'm so sorry for making you worry, Shinichi!" Ran looked at the clock before putting the notebook back where she found it.

As soon as the notebook was hidden, she heard the doorbell ring. Ran felt as if she couldn't get there fast enough! She opened the door and saw Shinichi, fully grown, standing in the doorway. Ran hugged him tightly, not even thinking about her actions. After a moment, she pulled herself away, blushing. She tried to act mad.

"Where have you been!? I've been worried sick about you! You should have called to let me know that you were coming back!" Shinichi looked at her, blinking in surprise. Then he started yelling back.

"I take a break from my case to surprise you and that's the first thing you say to me!?" The two glared at each other in silence before breaking out laughing.

"I really missed you, Shinichi. How long can you stay?" Shinichi looked at his watch.

"I have to leave a little before 4 o'clock if I want to catch my train but that should be plenty of time!" Shinichi smiled.

"Plenty of time to do what?" Ran questioned. Shinichi sighed.

"Idiot! If I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise!" He teased. Ran seriously wanted to punch him.

"Will you quit calling me an idiot!? I was just wondering!" Ran turned around. "I'm going to get changed." She walked into her room and quickly chose a cute outfit. As she was changing, she couldn't help but think about how different Shinichi acted when he was Conan. "He doesn't tease me and call me names…He's a lot nicer as Conan!" She remember what Shinichi had written in that last journal entry. "Shinichi, you idiot! I couldn't move on if I wanted to!"

Time skip

"What do you think?" Ran asked as she twirled around. Shinichi blushed. He decided to take Ran shopping and even offered to pay for everything. Right now, Ran was trying on a light pink sundress.

"It looks great." Shinichi replied before looking at his watch. "It's almost lunchtime. Want to go get something to eat?" Ran nodded and went back into the changing room. A few minutes later, she came out wearing the clothes that she had come in, smiling.

Suddenly, there was a scream from the changing rooms. Shinichi instinctively ran towards the scream and saw one of the store employees against the wall with a look of terror on her face. He followed her gaze and saw a woman on the ground of the small changing area. There was blood everywhere. Shinichi felt the woman for a pulse. "Call the police," he ordered the shocked employee. There was already a crowd forming around them. "And make sure that nobody leaves!"

Ran watched Shinichi. "I should have expected this! Shinichi is always attracted trouble!" It was as if some unseen force was trying to ruin their time together!

The police arrived in a few minutes. Inspector Megure turned to the employee. "You were the one who discovered the body, correct?" The employee nodded.

"Yes. I noticed that the curtain was open a little so I was checking to see if there was anybody in there." The woman took a breath to calm herself as she pointed at Shinichi. "That boy is the one who told me to call the police." Megure followed the woman's pointed finger and almost jumped when he noticed Shinichi.

"Shinichi!?" He clapped the teenager on his back. "With you here, this case will be solved in no time!" Shinichi laughed nervously.

Time Skip

The police led a man in handcuffs out of the store. Apparently, the victim was his lover and she was threatening to tell his girlfriend everything if he didn't pay her a certain amount money every month.

"Inspector, I trust that you will keep my involvement in this case quiet?" Shinichi asked Megure.

"Yeah, I know. Why are you so secretive, anyway? You used to love all of the glory!" ."I can't really answer that right now. I have to go now." Shinichi turned back to Ran, who had been waiting patiently. It was already 1 o'clock. "It's too late for lunch now.

"I should've known you'll come," Ran grumbled. "I mean, everyone else had." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Wait a minute, don't tell me she's called you too?" Ran groaned.

"She?" Shinichi opened his eyes very wide, hoping that this would make him look more innocent.

"Don't play dumb with me, Shinichi, I know you too well." Ran threatened him.

Shinichi hid a smiled. "She did call me," he admitted.

"I can't believe this!" Ran exploded as she suddenly stood up, surprising Shinichi. "For one year I pleaded for you to return home, and one word from her and you came packing? Great. I can't believe she convinced everyone to talk me out of this,"

"Wait," now it was Shinichi's turn to narrow his eyes. "What do you mean everyone?"

"Apparently mom was very busy yesterday." Ran agitatedly paced around the room. "She told everyone how this wasn't right for me, that this isn't what I really wanted. Then, she told each one of them that they're the only ones who could change my mind."

"What?" And I prided myself on being a great detective. I fell for her manipulations hook, line, and sinker. I can't believe I risked everything because of what she had told me.

"But Ran, I didn't come for her." Shinichi told her seriously.

Ran spun furiously around and faced him. "Why are you here then?"

"To stop you,"

"Oh, not you too!"

"Ran, I-"

"I can't believe this is happening," she began as she paced around again. "I can't believe this, I can't believe this,"

"Ran," Shinichi said. "You're starting to hyperventilate," he stood up and grabbed Ran's shoulders to stop her, or at least, he tried to. What actually happened was when he grabbed her shoulders, she continued to walk towards him. Either she thought she could walk right through him or she just didn't care, but her forehead smashed into Shinichi's nose. "Ouch!" Shinichi yelped in pain as he quickly withdrew his hands to nurse his injured nose. He quickly stepped out of Ran's path as she continued to pace around the room.

"I'm almost eighteen now," she was saying. Shinichi quickly understood that her tirade was not meant for him. "I can make my own decisions. I'll be living away from home in a few months. I have my own life to live. I cannot believe this,"

"Ran, your mother is only concerned about you." Shinichi told her softly.

She stopped at that. Then, she sighed as her shoulders sagged down in defeat. "It doesn't matter anyway." She then slowly made her way to her bed. "It's over. You win."

"Ran-"

"I told Akira-kun it's off. I changed my mind."

A slow smile began to spread across Shinichi's face. His body also sagged down, but this time, of relief. Ran is NOT going to get married.

His face firmed with resolve. He must tell her now. NOW. Everything. Before he finds out whether or not the new cure was also temporary.

Then, something struck him. Ran had changed her mind about the wedding before she saw him. "Um, ano, Ran," Shinichi began. "What made you change your mind?"

"You meant to ask, out of all the people my mom sent out to harass me, which of them made me cave in?" Ran asked.

Shinichi nodded.

"Would you believe none of them?"

"Wha-?"

Ran smiled. "You probably don't know him, but-"

Shinichi winced. Great. Another him. As if Shinoda wasn't enough.

"His name's Kyougoku Makoto," Ran then proceeded to explain who he was. But Shinichi was lost to the world.

Wait. Kyougoku? Sonoko's admirer? What does he have to do with everything?

"Kyougoku-kun and I talked last night on the phone." Ran told Shinichi. "He helped me a lot. And unlike some other people I know, he didn't try to tell me what was right for me. Only, he told me what my options were and what would-"

"You talked to him but not to me?" Shinichi exploded. "Why? I thought I was your best friend?"

"You wouldn't understand, Shinichi, but he would."

"Ran, why wouldn't I understand?" He demanded. "Sure I got a little jealous, but my best friend's marriage is surely something that I could-"

Ran's eyes widened like saucers. "Marriage?" She asked, interrupting Shinichi's rant. "Who's getting married?"

"You are!" Conan threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

Then, much to his chagrin, Ran began laughing. Then suddenly Ran remember what she read this morning this was the reason he showed up.

She was still laughing five minutes later. "Me?" She gasped in between her laughter. "Get married? Surely, Shinichi, you know me better than that?"

I thought I did. Shinichi gave her the look.

Upon seeing that, Ran immediately tried to curb her laughter. "I'm sorry." She choked out. "I'm sorry. What on earth made you think I was getting married?"

Shinichi reddened. "Well, you, uh, when, uh," Shinichi cleared his throat in an attempt to rationalize his thoughts. Now, if this was a murder case… "Lately, whenever I call, you stopped asking where I was and when I could go home,"

Ran shrugged. "Because you always give me the same answer. And I thought asking you about that only makes you uncomfortable, so I stopped."

"Uh, right," Shinichi mumbled. OK, that actually makes sense. "OK, what about Shinoda Akira and his proposal?" he demanded.

"Akira-kun?" Ran asked. "I admit, he's cute," Ran almost laughed again at the crestfallen look that crossed Shinichi's face. "But he's not my type. And frankly, I'm not his either."

"What?"

"Apparently, Shinichi, your detective skills are getting rusty, probably why it's taking you so long to finish your case." Ran giggled. "Akira- kun's father is an Olympic Karate coach. Akira-kun joined the men's karate club, saw me, and then offered for me to train with him and other delegates in preparation for the coming Olympics. That's his proposal."

"That's the future your dad and he were talking about," Shinichi muttered so that only he can hear. "That's why he said he can make your dreams come true."

"Satisfied?" Ran asked.

"Wait, if he's not proposing marriage, why did he give you a ring?"

"A ring?" Ran frowned. "Oh, the ring," she then turned around and rummaged around her desk. Then, she saw the velvet box she was looking for and tossed it to Shinichi. "How did you know-" she began. Then she sighed. "Never mind. I know the answer, a little bird named Conan told you."

Shinichi easily caught it. He opened the box and stared at what he saw.

"It's a championship ring," Ran explained. "A little something that Akira- kun thought that he could use to convince me with." She sighed. "Remember when

I won my first competition? I told everyone that one day, I would get a championship ring just like that."

Shinichi closed the box and tossed back to Ran. He rubbed his eyes. He could feel a headache coming. "But your father said that Shinoda-kun will be stealing you away. And then your mother's objections. Then, you said that you'll probably live with Shinoda-kun's parents for a while,"

Ran's eyes narrowed, a fact that didn't escape Shinichi. She was probably wondering how he could know so much detail when he was supposedly on the other side of the country working on a case.

"Training would have to mean that I have to leave home and go to China." Ran explained. "That's where Akira-kun's parents are. Akira-kun's here on a temporary basis, because his student visa to China had expired. If I accepted their offer, I would have to continue my education there. That's why my dad felt as if he's stealing me away and why my mom objected." Ran grinned. "Alright, oh, great detective of the East. Other evidences you'd like to throw at me to prove that I'm getting married?"

Suddenly, Shinichi reddened. "The other day," he started. "I-uh-was here."

"You were?" Ran demanded an answer. "Then why didn't I see you? What are you hiding from me?" She crossed her arms. "I'm warning you, if I don't like your answer..." She left the threat hanging, knowing full well that he got the message.

"Eep." Shinichi ducked his head. "Well, it didn't seem like the best time."

"What? Why?"

"You were with Sonoko," he replied. "Talking about.." Shinichi's voice trailed off as his face became even redder.

"What's that? I didn't quite hear the last word you said."

"Undressing," he finished. "In front of a man,"

Ran then turned red. "You heard that?" Then she groaned.

"That's why I didn't think it was the right time to show myself. It seemed like a sensitive topic between women,"

"We're talking about a physical exam." Ran finally replied.

"A physical exam?"

Ran nodded. "I had to undergo one if I want to join the Olympics. And since the school physician is a man..."

"Oh,"

"Shinichi, I'm not getting married." Ran told him. "I'm not old enough for that. Besides, the guy I'm waiting for hasn't even asked me yet. He's busy you know,"

Shinichi's heart warmed at the Ran's hint as he gazed upon her face, made more beautiful by its red tinge.

"I mean, Dr. Araide's swamped with work right now, but I'm willing to wait, no matter how long it takes." Ran added with a sigh.

"What?" Shinichi exploded.

Ran dissolved into fits of laughter. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she said.

Shinichi grumbled something incomprehensible. Ran then crossed her room to be closer to her best friend.

"I can't believe you went all the way here just because you thought I was getting married." She shook her head in disbelief. "OK, I promise you that I will not get married without introducing the guy to you first."

"I would rather not have you get married at all," Shinichi grumbled.

"What was that?" Ran asked with a frown.

"Nothing, nothing,"

"Well, hey, since you're here, want to go out for ice cream?" Ran asked. "A new shop opened while you were away and they have the greatest flavors."

It didn't take twice to convince the great detective of the East to say yes...

How about we go to the park?"

Ran nodded. "You have to buy me ice cream when we get there!" She said stubbornly.

"Why should I have to do that!? I didn't do anything wrong!"

Ran ignored him and they left the mall to go to a nearby park. As they walked, Shinichi felt a familiar heart-wrenching pain. "I still have three hours left!" He thought. He hid his pain with a smile. He couldn't afford to leave Ran right now. He was too afraid of losing her.

Ran led him to an ice cream stand. Even though Shinichi said that he wouldn't, he ended up buying both of them ice cream. He sat down on a bench, already drenched with sweat. He tried to keep his breathing controlled so that he wouldn't worry Ran.

"He's sort of Sonoko's boyfriend." Ran was saying. "And he convinced me that it's not all what it seemed. He said that I have to think it over really, really hard and decide whether I'm willing to give up everything for the Olympics."

They ended up taking out the ice cream and walking in to nowhere in particular.

"And you weren't?"

Ran shrugged. "Well, he said that I have to give up my friends, my family, my school, even my love life. He said that even if other athletes were with you, it still gets a little lonely," she laughed. "I'm sure he's thinking about Sonoko when he said that. He said that sometimes he doesn't even

have the energy to call her, let alone write her a letter."

Tell her, you cowardly baka.

Though the two were walking side by side at a leisurely pace, a battle was going on inside of Shinichi.

But she might laugh at me, or worse, beat me up. I mean, after accusing her of getting married, this is hardly the time for a romantic stroll in the park.

"Is something wrong, Shinichi?" Ran asked.

"Huh? What?"

Ran laughed yet again. "Your face," she replied. "It's like you've got a migraine going on."

"Oh," he said. "It's nothing."

"I know." She snapped her fingers for effect. "You're probably wondering if this is the right time and place to declare your dying love and affection for me,"

The effect on Shinichi was just what Ran hoped for. His eyes became as big as saucers. His mouth seemed to have lost its hinges and just fell open. His face became as red as ripe apples.

Ran's laughter became louder. "Relax," she said. "I was just teasing."

It took a few more moments before Shinichi could compose himself. "You're in an awfully good mood today," he grumbled.

"Of course." Ran told him seriously. "After all, it isn't every day that I get to spend an afternoon with my best friend, you know."

"Are you okay? You don't look so good." Ran put a hand on his forehead. "You're burning up!"

"It's okay, Ran." Shinichi managed out, giving his childhood friend a small reassuring smile.

After few minutes the smile disappear and he looked towards her seriously & said " hypothetically speaking Ran , if I am not able to return what we will you do" .

Ran knew why he had asked her and replied " I trust you , I know you will keep your promise" . But if I …." He was going to ask again.

Ran thought if he is pushing her so hard so she should tease him little and said " then I had no choice but to marry my second boyfriend".

Shinichi thought her second boyfriend so she had already move on but he was feeling jealous and couldn't stop him from asking and asked her who is he.

Ran sensed his jealousy feeling and replied while smiling " you already know him and you are the reason I met him". Shinichi was frustrated whom she was referring and when he met him. Before he could think anything he asked her.

Ran replied cheerfully " Conan kun and you know he ones asked her for marriage before". Shinichi released a sigh that she referring to Conan but before any second thought arrive he hold her in his hand and shouted " are you insane , are you serious?

Ran with smile replied " I was only joking, and no matter how time you take but I will wait for you". Before he could reply Ran saw him holding his chest.

"It's not okay! What's wrong with you!?" Ran thought before remembering that Shinichi had always seemed sick right before he always disappeared again. Before Conan would come to take his place. "Is he going to turn back!?" Ran felt like she wanted to cry. She was afraid for Shinichi. Afraid for when he would be gone again. But most of all, she was afraid that Shinichi might not be able to come back as he was. As much as she loved Conan being in her life, she wanted Shinichi to be there even more.

He was leaving her again.

Every time she had the chance to see him, chance to be with him, chance to talk to him, he will always prioritize whatever crime happened that day and leave her alone, with a promise to come back so can she wait for him?

But he won't really come back. If Gods are in favor of her that day, she could still catch him after the crime was solved, but always, always that he was in a hurry, so much hurry that in some instances.

"I love you, Shinichi. And I will still wait for you until you come back, until you explained to me everything, until you tell me the truth."

The tears she had been holding back came forth. Turning her back to them so they couldn't see her crying, Ran decided that she had done her part.

"Just go and do what you should do. You know I'll be just here waiting." Looking over her shoulder, Ran gave him a watery smile. "Goodbye, Shinichi."

Ran wiped her eyes with her arm

a hand materialized from somewhere and caught her arm. In surprise, she didn't have the time to react when the hand tugged her close to its owner's form forcing her to spin around…

And became nose to nose with none other than Kudo Shinichi.

Her gasp of surprise remained trapped in her throat and when she was about to open her mouth to ask what the hell is he doing, Shinichi took the opportunity to dip his head and pressed his lips on her.

The kiss was chaste, innocent and so exquisite. His lips were soft and the warm puffs of his breath burned her hyper sensitive skin.

It was the sweetest thing she ever felt. Her mind swirling with the thoughts of lips, soft and Shinichi.

When Shinichi put a little more pressure on her lips, an overwhelming heat coursed throughout her body, starting from her stomach, up to her chest, slowly making its way to her neck and settling in her face, making her cheeks burn hotly. Her heart threatened to jump out of her ribs. Just how in the world a simple pressing of mouth with her favorite person could make her feel this way?

"I'll come back to you. I'll hold on to your words, Ran. Wait for me."

The kiss lasted seven seconds before the detective withdrew his mouth from her but to maintain the level of intimacy he boldly crossed, Shinichi leaned his forehead on hers as he panted, as if the kiss had sucked all of his strength.

Ran's vocal chords refused to work.

"I'll come back to you, Ran. I promise you that. And I will explain everything to you. I will owe you the biggest apology in the world but I will make it up to you for the rest of my life if you will let me."

Her face turning seven shades of red.

Why did his promise sounded like a proposal?

"Shinichi…" his name escaped her lips with so much emotion it choked her to tears.

Another jolt of pain went through Shinichi's body. He knew that he would go back to being Conan any moment now. He turned to Ran. "I'm sorry, Ran. I think that I should go now. I'll call you later." He ran off, unable to look Ran in the face. He found one of the park's public restrooms and saw that it was obviously hardly ever used. He locked himself in one of the stalls just in time.

Shinichi felt as if his bones and skin were melting. He bit his lip to keep himself quiet as his body painfully grew smaller and smaller. However, as the transformation reached the climax, he couldn't keep in the loud scream of pain. This was the part that Shinichi hated the most. Not because of the pain, but because of his voice. He could hear his voice become more high-pitched, changing from that of an adult to that of a child but something made his mind not to cry this time. It always made the situation too real.

Ran couldn't keep her tears in as she was right outside the bathroom. She had followed Shinichi without thinking but found that she couldn't bear to go into the bathroom. She couldn't be there to help him through this. She ran home in tears. "Is there really nothing that I can do!?"

 _Entry #9_

 _Ran was already home when I got back. I could tell that she had been crying. I hate having to leave her. I feel like I'm the worst person on the planet for causing Ran so much pain. I'm developing more immunity to the antidote. They never work for as long as they're supposed to! It makes me wonder if it's even possible for me to go back for good._

 _When I came home, Ran hugged me. All I could do was stand there and try to comfort her as Conan. I'm afraid that I'm losing her. I'm afraid that she'll hate me forever. I wouldn't blame her if she did but I'm still scared that she will. I would have told her the truth if I wasn't afraid of her putting herself in danger for me. I would do anything to keep her as safe as possible._

 _I want to be there for her. I want to stop hurting her. It seems that no matter what I do, I just end up hurting her even more in the end! What am I supposed to do!? Will I ever be able to make things right?_

Conan stood on the stool in the bathroom. It was only yesterday that he had been over 6 feet tall…now he needed a stool to see the mirror! "I know that life can be unfair but this is getting ridiculous!" Conan thought as he finished brushing his teeth.

"Conan! Hurry up or you'll be late for school!" Ran called. They had both overslept and didn't even have time for breakfast. Conan finished getting ready and joined Ran by the front door. Since Teitan Elementary School was on the way to Teitan High School, Ran had always made sure to walk Conan to school.

On the way to school, Ran couldn't help but look at the small boy holding her hand. He seemed so innocent, so young, so happy! "How is he able to act like that after yesterday!?" She thought. She unconsciously squeezed Conan's hand.

Ran-neechan? Is something wrong?. "He asked with big childlike eyes. Ran blinked at him as she tried to come up with something to say. "It's Shinichi again, isn't it?" He continued, looking at the ground.

"No. I…" Ran started. She didn't want Conan, no…Shinichi, to feel like it was all his fault. "I was just nervous for the math test today, that's all." She gave him a reassuring smile. They continued walking in silence.

When they got to Conan's school, Ran had to fight to give the boy a hug. She didn't want to let him out of her sight for even a second! "Have a good day at school!" She said cheerfully as Conan joined the Detective Boys.

"I will! Good luck on your test, Ran-neechan!" He called back before disappearing inside the school. Ran sighed and continued walking to school.

"Poor Shinichi! I could only imagine how hard it must be to have to go to elementary school again!"

He's leaving her again.

Ever since that day, at the park, he's always leaving her alone.

At first she understood, after what happened, she thought it was normal. But three days had passed and he was still the same. Today was the limit of her patience.

"Conan-kun! You left me again!"

The shrunken detective froze on the street. His body too stiff as he kept his eyes forward, not looking at the lady behind him.

"Conan-kun." Ran called again. The hard edge on her voice made him look at her.

He blushed.

Again.

For the hundredth time for the past three days.

"Mou Conan-kun, you're always in a hurry." Ran put her hands on her hips and gave him her best stern look to masked her own embarrassment.

Why was he so embarrassed? He's the one who kissed me! If there's someone who should be shy, it should be me!

"Gomene, Ran-neechan. I didn't want to be late at school." He lied.

Ran didn't point it out. He can't be late. His school was closer than hers and leaving the house at this hour, Ran can still be fifteen minutes early for her class.

"You won't be late, Conan-kun." She said with finality. The beginning of a smile forming on her lips. Her hand reached his small one and she pleasantly noted how the tips of his ears turned pink as they walk their way together to their respective schools.

"You should not leave me alone, Conan-kun. Do you want me to get sad?"

She gave Conan a playful pout and laughed when she was rewarded with a twitch and a never ending blush.

But despite his seemingly permanent awkwardness around her, he decided to answer her question.

"…you know I'll never leave you."

Ran stood still, halting them both as she look down at her little charge. Now that she think about it…

Every time that Shinichi will leave, Conan-kun will appear with an apologetic face and comforting smile.

Every time that Shinichi will hang up on him, Conan-kun will call her and say anything, ask anything just to keep her mind away from the person that dropped the telephone conversation with her.

And every time Shinichi will run away from her, Conan-kun will appear and run towards her with that worried, close-to-crying face, saying Shinichi-niisan was stupid for leaving Ran-neechan alone.

Ran picked up Conan-kun. Hugging him to her chest then giggling when the little detective began to sputter.

"Ra-Ran!"

Smiling to herself, Ran ignored the way her heart beat wildly inside her chest and planted a soft kiss on the little detective's cheek.

Conan-kun's face became tomato red and Ran laughed as she proclaimed that steams were coming out from his face.

 _You're right, Shinichi. You never left me_.

Time Skip

"Good morning, Kobayashi-sensei!" All the kids greeted cheerfully.

Their teacher smiled warmly and the class sat down. "Good morning, everyone! Did you have a good weekend?"

"Yeah!" Everyone responded.

"Just kill me already…" Conan thought to himself. As the teacher started class, Conan propped his head up with one arm and stared out the window. "What's the point of me coming to school again? Why couldn't I have said that I was homeschooled and gone to Agasa's everyday?" He didn't notice the teacher standing next to him.

"Edogawa! Are you even paying attention to the lesson?" Conan jumped in his seat.

"Um…yeah!" He smiled his biggest, most innocent smile. Kobayashi-sensei sighed.

"Then could you tell me what 10 times 4 is?"

"40," he replied as if he was proud. "This is what I've been reduced to…answering simple multiplication problems…"

"Correct. But right now, we're learning history."

Conan blushed a little in embarrassment while the rest of the class giggled. As soon as the teacher went back to the front of the classroom, Haibara whispered something to the small detective. "I'm guessing that these days didn't go so well?"

Conan just glared at her. He was sure that she had probably been observing him and Ran all day yesterday. He turned his attention to the front of the room and tried to pay attention to the lesson.

 _Entry #10_

 _It was so hard go back to school after what happened yesterday. I really didn't want Ran to leave me there but there's nothing that I could do. I'm just a kid, after all. It's so hard to keep pretending like I actually care what the teacher was talking about! I can't even pay attention in class anymore! I don't know how much longer I can take this torture!_

 _Ran was so upset when I left. She didn't even try to stop me like she normally does when I have to leave. I know that she's afraid that I won't come back. The truth is, I'm afraid of the same thing. I know that I should be used to it by now but I'm not. I don't even WANT to get used to this, acting like a child 24/7! If I got used to it, then it would be like admitting defeat._

 _I tried to cheer Ran up this morning by acting happy. She said that she was nervous because of a test but I know that she was lying. I've been around her long enough to know when she feels sad. But what's the point of being around her if there's nothing that I could do to make her happy? What's the point of this whole thing!?_

Next day, Walking home from school that day, Conan wasn't feeling particularly great. His nose was runny and his head pounded with every thought. He noticed that since becoming a child, he tended to get sick more often. If it was because of his younger body or being surrounded by germy first graders, he wasn't sure. All he did know was that he felt awful.

"Are you feeling okay, Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked, forcing the Detective Boys to stop on their daily walk home from school. "You don't look so good!"

Seeing Ayumi's concerns, Mitsuhiko smacked his hand against Conan's forehead to check his temperature. "He's burning up!" He cried, beginning to panic. "You need to get home right away!"

"Edogawa-kun is always getting sick, isn't he?" Ai chuckled to herself. She stuck her hands in her pockets and glanced at him, a smug smile across her face. Conan frowned. He was not amused by Haibara's muted teasing since he was so often a victim of it.

"Maybe he should call his neechan to come get him?" Genta added in a teasing tone. "Then I'm sure he'd feel a lot better!"

"Knock it off, Genta!" Conan grumbled as he kicked a rock with his foot. He stared down at the sidewalk, his face flushed. He pretended it was due to his fever, but everyone knew it wasn't true. They might be children, but they weren't born yesterday.

Ayumi quickly rose to Conan's defense. "Don't tease him!" she cried. "He's sick!" She wrapped her arms around him in a deep hug and frowned at Genta and Mitsuhiko. "So you boys better leave him alone!"

Conan learned to deal with Ayumi's doting love. Her affection for Conan was equally evident. She was star struck by the intelligent and oddly mature child. Conan always remained calm even in the worst situations. Ayumi knew she could count on him for anything. It didn't hurt that he was cute either.

Unfortunately, Mitsuhiko and Genta tended to get jealous of Conan since he seemed to keep Ayumi to himself. Her hugging Conan only made things worse. As their irritation rose, they clenched their fists, prepared to verbally fight for the love of their seven year old sweetheart. Haibara could hardly contain her laughter. The children never failed to entertain her.

"He can't hide it!" Genta cooed. He playfully punched Conan in the shoulder, though it was harder than usual. "Everyone knows that Conan loves Ran-neechan! He's always blushing when she holds his hand!"

Conan growled as the teasing kept coming. "I bet he loves it when she tucks him in every night and makes him dinner! Just like a married couple!" Genta and Mitsuhiko nearly fell to the ground laughing. Conan hardly had the strength to respond with a witty retort. He was tired and just needed some sleep.

Haibara clapped her hands loudly, silencing everyone. "Settle down..." she said in her usual, calm tone. "It isn't fair to tease Edogawa-kun while he's sick even if you are right." The boys shut their mouths. No one wanted to mess with an angry Haibara.

"Thanks for nothing," Conan muttered under his breath. He tried to take a step forward, but temporarily the world went fuzzy. Conan grabbed onto Genta to keep himself from falling over. His sickness was especially bad this time. It was a miracle he made it through the school day.

"Lucky for you, we're here," Haibara said, pointing up at the familiar detective agency windows. "Your neechan will take good care of you."

Frowning, Conan began to walk up the stairs, not feeling inclined to say goodbye to anybody.

"Get well soon!" Ayumi called. He weakly waved back and then disappeared into the detective agency, relieved to finally have some peace and quiet. Until he heard the clamor of cheering mixed with the sounds of televised horse races and crunching beer cans.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Kogoro yelled as he slammed his hands on his desk. "GO! GO! GO!" A slew of papers and beer cans came flying off the desk. This eccentric behavior was usual when the famous Sleeping Kogoro wasn't on a case. Both Conan and Ran found it annoying especially when they were forced to clean after his messes.

"Otousan!" someone scolded the middle aged man from the kitchen. Ran came out, drying off a bowl with a dishrag. She had probably just gotten home from school and was planning on starting dinner. She would have gotten started earlier if someone hadn't left a pile of dirty dishes in the sink.

"This is your fifth one!" Ran scowled, pointing at the beer can in his hand. "And your last!" She set down the bowl and dishrag and angrily strided towards Kogoro's desk. She scooped up the remaining beers much to Kogoro's whining. Stomping her feet, she returned them to the refrigerator in the kitchen, then returned to the main room to retrieve the dish she was drying.

That's when she noticed Conan had come home. It took only a few seconds for her to realize he wasn't feeling well. His hair was sweaty and his cheeks flushed. His shoulders drooped while he moaned to himself. The signs were obvious. Ran hated seeing the poor baby sick, but it did mean she got to take care of him.

"Conan-kun!" she cried as she rushed towards him. He jumped at the sudden call, but didn't move. Ran placed her hand against his forehead to check his temperature. If he hadn't already been sick, Conan knew his face would have turned bright red. Since he was a child, Ran didn't have any worries about innocently touching him. Too bad Conan did.

Ran stepped away with a frown. "You've got a fever. I'll lay out the futon for you to lie down. I'll get you a cold towel too."

She guided him into the bedroom where she pulled out the futon for him to sleep on. A sudden chill overcame so he buried himself with blankets. Ran disappeared for a moment, promising to be right back. In the meantime, Conan took off his glasses and placed them by the side of the futon. A weak groan escaped his mouth which was dry like cotton. He needed a glass of water.

Thankfully, Ran was prepared for everything. She returned with a cold towel, glass of water, and medicine. "Take this," she smiled, handing the pills to Conan. He quickly swallowed them, followed by a large gulp of water. He prayed the meds would kick in fast. He felt like he was dying.

Conan laid back down and Ran carefully placed the cold towel on his forehead. "Does that feel better?" she asked sweetly. Conan nodded, grateful for the care. Whenever he got sick, Ran always came through. She was better than any nurse and would sometimes buy him fun treats like ice cream if he was feeling better. Despite being secretly seventeen, Conan could never say no to ice cream.

Ran shut off the lights, about to leave the room. "If you need anything, just let me know," she told Conan. Instead of response, she only heard his quiet snores. The child had already fallen asleep. Ran giggled and shut the door, careful not to make a sound.

On the outside of the room, Ran leaned against the door, daydreaming to herself. " This reminds me of Shinichi," she thought. "The last time that detective freak got sick, I waited on him hand and foot! But I guess I wouldn't let anyone take of him but me."

A slight smile formed at the memory. She could recall it vividly. Shinichi went home sick that day and as soon as she was out of school, she headed to his house. Ran found him in bed, moaning and groaning. His parents were away so he had no one to take care of him. Ran wondered why he hadn't called her until he admitted he was too embarrassed.

Ran spent the rest of that afternoon taking care of him. She bought him medicine and an ice pack. While he rested, she cooked porridge and cleaned up the kitchen. Once he woke up, she brought him his food, watching him while he ate. "It tastes so boring!" she recalled him complaining.

Ran rolled her eyes and replied, "That's because you're sick! It isn't supposed to taste like anything!" To shut him up, she took a spoonful of porridge and shoved it in his mouth.

Shinichi quickly pulled the spoon out of her hand and swallowed the porridge. "It is pretty good though..." he mumbled to himself, furiously blushing. Then before he could say much more, he had fallen back asleep.

Before Ran let herself continue to worry, she decided to start preparing dinner. That would get her mind off things.

Conan didn't often have nightmares. They came every now and then, but were typically mild. These simultaneous, however, was worse than anything he experienced before. Maybe it was because of the fever. Maybe it was from the medicine. Whatever it was, it was terrifying.

 **The nightmare began as a dream. He was sitting in class, pushing his pencil back and forth across the desk. He wasn't Conan, but Shinichi. His classmates chatted amongst themselves while their teacher wrote something on the board. Shinichi hummed an old song to himself in celebration of his good mood. Most teenagers would hate being in school, but Shinichi felt relieved. It felt good to be back.**

 **A set of hands landed on his desk. Shinichi glanced up to find Ran with a huge smile on her face. "Ran..." Shinichi gasped, his heart lurching. He hadn't talked to her like this in so long. He missed being taller than her and gently teasing when they hung out. He missed the way she occasionally blushed when she talked about him or how her voice went high when she was embarrassed.**

 **"Shinichi!" Ran grinned, her hands behind her back. "Meet me in the classroom at 6:00! I have something to tell you!" Before Shinichi could ask what, Ran skipped away to talk to Sonoko. Full of longing, Shinichi watched her, a lovestruck gaze plastered across his face. Even from behind, Ran looked gorgeous. God, he missed this.**

 **The rest of class felt like it passed by in a matter of seconds. The blue sky changed to a deep orange as the sun began to set. Even after class let out, Shinichi stayed glued to his seat. He eagerly awaited Ran's arrival.**

 **"What does she want to say?" He wondered, taking on his usual thinking pose. "Is it about class? No, she wouldn't call me out just for that. It's something she doesn't want anyone else to here... something secret. Could it be... No... but maybe? A answer to my confession?"**

 **Shinichi's stomach churned at the thought. He hadn't thought about what to do when Ran answered. Being Conan stopped him from thinking that far. That wasn't a problem anymore. He and Ran could... What could they do? Would they start dating? What would that even mean?**

 **The classroom door slid open. Ran stood in the doorway, her eyes narrowed on Shinichi. "Ran!" Shinichi stood up, nearly knocking his chair over. The sunset cast a shadow over the room, both illuminating Ran's face and shrouding it in darkness.**

 **"Shinichi..." Ran's voice was low. Her bangs hung in front of her eyes, masking her expression. She sounded more serious than before.**

 **"Is this what confessions are normally like?" Shinichi wondered. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his uniform pants, taking a breath to stay calm.**

 **"Ran, what did you want to talk about?" Shinichi asked. He approached her, but she held out her hand, signaling him to stop. He cocked his head, confused. Ran's behavior was weird. "What's the matter?" asked Shinichi, now concerned. "Is something wrong?"**

 **Ran's gaze met his. Her eyes were cold. "Why didn't you tell me?"**

 **"What are you talking about?"**

 **"Why didn't you tell me?"**

 **"Ran... Speak clearly. What's going on? Are you feeling okay?"**

 **"Why didn't you tell me?!"**

 **A sharp pain shot through Shinichi's body. He crumpled to the ground, letting out an agonizing scream. His bones felt like they were melting, his body on fire. He gasped for air as he clawed at the ground, screaming. Ran stared at him, her expression unchanging.**

 **"Why didn't you tell me?"**

 **The pain evaporated. Shinichi's breaths were long and labored. "Ran..." he wheezed, trying to stand. Then, he realized how tall she looked, how high his voice was, how large everything around him appeared. With one glance at himself, his worst nightmare became reality. He was Conan again, glasses and all.**

 **"Ran!" Conan shouted, throwing his glasses aside. He had been outed and all he could do now was tell her the truth. "I-I wanted too! I promise! I didn't want to put you in danger. The men in the black, they-"**

 **"You lied to me." Ran's tone turned bitter.**

 **"I didn't lie!" Conan protested. "I couldn't tell you! I wanted to protect you! There's so much you don't know yet. There are bad people out there and I don't want them to hurt you. Please! You have to understand!"**

 **"Why should I care about a liar? Why couldn't you trust me?" Her voice wavered. "I waited for you everyday. I checked my phone everyday, praying for a message from you. I spent nights crying because I was worried about you." Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "You let me suffer because you didn't want to tell me the truth!"**

 **"You're aren't listening!" Conan cried back. He grabbed onto her skirt, pleading.**

 **"I'm done listening. You don't deserve to be listened to." Ran knocked him off her, sending him to the ground. She didn't hit him hard, but the area she contacted stung like a thousand needles. Her hand reached for the door, gripping the side so tightly her knuckles turned white.**

 **"Goodbye Shinichi... No, goodbye Conan." And then the door slammed shut.**

 **"RAN!"**

 **Conan sprinted towards the door and whipped it open. The hallway was dark and empty, not a soul in sight. "RAN!" he screamed into the void. He screamed it again and again until his voice went hoarse. Still, no one answered.**

 **At that moment, the bubble burst. All his anxieties, his greatest fears exploded at once. His most important person hated his guts and never wanted to see him again. As Shinichi, he had always taken Ran's presence for granted. He couldn't imagine a time when she wasn't there. Now, here he was. Alone.**

 **A lump formed in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to see what was in front of him. "It's not real... It's not true!" he told himself. "It can't be happening." But he couldn't forget what he saw. Her tears, her anger, her grief. They were all too real.**

 **"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."**

 **The tears began to flow. At first, it was just one that ran slowly along his cheek. It was followed by another and then another. Conan fell to the floor, his knees hitting the wooden surface hard. He didn't notice the pain as he cried even harder. His chest heaved with each sob. His hands grasped at the air, hoping to feel the familiar warmth of someone else's.**

 **Conan had never cried this hard before. It could be that being a child made him more emotional, but he doubted it. It felt like his heart was ripped out. His entire body was numb. Salty tears dripped onto his pants as Conan hung his head.**

 **"Ran..."**

 **Suddenly something happened,**

 **Shinichi looked around. He was at Tropical Land but nobody else was there. "What's going on!?" He thought. He walked aimlessly around the park, trying to find some sign of life. His footsteps seemed to echo all around him.**

 **As he walked, he noticed that everything seemed to get bigger and bigger. Soon, everything around him was so big that Shinichi felt like an ant. He rounded the side of one of the attractions and saw Ran with her back to him. He ran up to her and found that he only came up to the top of her shoe. "What the hell!?" He heard a cold voice from behind him.**

 **"I've found you, 'Mr. High School Detective.' Now you're going to suffer for all the trouble that you've caused our organization." Shinichi turned around and saw Gin, who was enormous. Time seemed to slow down as Gin pulled out a gun. Ran turned around and her eyes grew wide. Gin pulled the trigger and the bullet sped towards Ran's head.**

 **"I've got to save her!" Shinichi thought. He tried to push Ran out of the way but he was too small. All Shinichi could do was watch in vain as the bullet made impact, making Ran fall backwards. Her eyes met with Shinichi's, as if still believing that he would come to her.**

"RAN!" Conan cried out loud as he sat up in his bed. It only took a couple of seconds for Ran to come running into the dark room.

Conan awoke to someone shaking him. "Conan-kun..." a soft voice whispered. "Conan-kun... wake up."

"Conan!? What's wrong!?" She rushed to the side of the futon and looked the small boy over. He was drenched with sweat and was breathing quickly. His face showed something that Ran had never seen before. She could only describe it as…terror. "What happened?" She asked again calmly. Conan's eyes met hers and she could see relief flash through them.

The room was still dark, but he could see Ran holding his hand, watching over him. He felt something warm on his cheek. When he went to touch it, he realized whatever it was wet. Then it struck him. They were tears.

"You were having a nightmare," Ran explained as she helped him sit up. She sat on her knees and smiled at him. "You kept calling my name. Are you okay?" Her eyes were so warm unlike in the dream. She rubbed his back, offering comfort. "Everything's alright now. I'm right here."

"It was just a dream…She's alright." Conan thought as he took a deep breath. He looked at Ran and gave her a small smile. "It was nothing, Ran-neechan!"

Ran continued to stare at him. "He woke up screaming in the sleep! There's no way that it was just nothing!" She sighed. "Did you have a nightmare?" Conan shook his head stubbornly. "That's just like Shinichi to be so stubborn!"

Conan stared at her. "It was all a nightmare..." he thought, his lip quivering. "It... wasn't real." Ran was here in front of him. She wasn't going to leave. She didn't hate him. Right now, she was with him, Shinichi or not. And he never wanted her to leave.

Ran let out a gasp as Conan leaned over and hugged her. He wrapped his tiny arms around her waist and buried his head in her chest. Although he said nothing, Ran could hear him softly crying. It shocked her. Shinichi as Conan acted mature for his age. Sometimes she forgot that he was still a child. A child that needed her love.

"There, there..." Ran whispered as she hugged him tightly. She stroked his head, patting down his unruly hair. "It's all over."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh Conan-kun! You don't need to apologize for anything," Ran sighed, pulling him even closer. "Everyone has nightmares."

Conan continued to cry for a few minutes. Ran's shirt dampened as Conan rubbed his face against it. She didn't say anything. It wasn't the time.

"I wonder what he had a nightmare about?" Ran wondered as Conan sniffled. "The poor thing..."

Finally, the tears stopped. Conan lifted his head and quickly moved away from Ran once he realized what had happened. "What am I doing?" he thought, horrified. He wiped his nose and scolded himself. "What kind of self-respecting detective cries like that?"

Ran noticed Conan's flustered expression. "It's cute," she smiled. "Boys always get so embarrassed about crying, but there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone needs to cry sometimes."

"Conan-kun, come here again," Ran said, gesturing for Conan to move close. Cautiously, he leaned forward, still flustered. He felt too mortified to see her face.

Noticing this, Ran lifted his chin with her hand. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, okay?" Conan didn't respond at first. She raised an eyebrow and repeated, "Okay?" Conan nodded, twiddling his thumbs.

"Good!" Ran grinned. "I'll go grab you some more water and you should try to go back to sleep. You still have a high fever!"

Conan turned away, worried he might have another nightmare. He didn't want to repeat this again.

"I have an idea!" Ran pushed back Conan's hair and gently kissed him on the forehead.

"R-Ran-neechan!? What are you doing!?" Conan demanded as Ran crawled into his futon and pulled the blanket over both of them.

Ran blushed but replied calmly. "I'm going to keep the bad dreams away!" She smiled and noticed that Conan's face turned red.

"Now I won't be able to go to sleep at all!" He thought. "Ran will kill me if she finds out that I'm Shinichi!"

"You know what? I'm scared," Ran admitted as she stared up at the ceiling. Conan turned on his side to look at her. He was surprised when he saw tears glistening on her cheeks in the moonlight.

"Ran…"

"I've always been worried about Shinichi since we were kids. I used to have nightmares that he would get eaten by a monster or something. It didn't help that he was always so reckless, running head-first into a case without even thinking. It's been years since I had bad dreams like that…but now I feel as if they're coming true." She turned and hugged Conan before he had time to react. "But I'm glad that you're safe!"

Conan slowly hugged Ran back. His small arms weren't long enough to meet but he could tell that Ran felt better. "Ran, I'm so sorry! Your dream really has come true!" They stayed like that for a while before Conan realized that Ran had already fallen asleep. "Crap! I'm so dead when this is all over!" He thought as his own eyelids became heavy. He smiled gently and drifted off to sleep.

 _Entry #11_

 _Last night, Ran slept next to me. She said that it was to keep the nightmares away but I'm not so sure. She normally would just tough it out. I'm so glad that Ran doesn't know who I really am because I'm sure that she would have murdered me if she knew. She would probably think that I was a pervert or something._

 _That nightmare was horrible. I felt so small, insignificant, and helpless. I can't help but wonder if it's all true. I can't do anything the way that I am now. My life really is a living nightmare! I can't help but wonder if everyone would be better off without me around. But the worst part is that I'm still making Ran worry. I want to tell her everything but I know that if I do that, then she'll be in more danger. Even though I know that it hurts her, maybe even more than it hurts me, I would rather keep her safe. I don't know what I would do without Ran._

 _I need to wake up from this nightmare soon, for her sake._

 _Entry #12_

 _I feel like Conan is taking everything that was ever important to me! My life, even my identity. It's like Shinichi Kudo doesn't even exist anymore! It's like the lie that I'm living is getting bigger and bigger until it's the only thing left. At this point, I don't think I'll ever be able to tell Ran the truth, no matter how much she deserves it._

 _Ran seems a lot happier now. She's always there, smiling. I know that I should be happy that Ran isn't sad but I can only feel guilty. Her smiles are so genuine and kind and beautiful. Would Ran be smiling the same way if she knew the truth?_

 _I know that there can only be one in the end. When this is all over, I could be Shinichi…or I could be stuck as Conan. I'm scared that it'll be the last one. As much as I love being with Ran and watching over her, I don't want to be her surrogate little brother! I want to be the one who can hold her in their arms, the one who can tell her that they love her! If only Ran knew the truth, than I could tell her how I really feel. I could tell her how sorry I am for everything and that I'm still here. I don't want to disappear!_

Conan sighed as he grabbed his stuff. He was going on another camping trip with Agasa and the Detective Boys. He had decided that it would be best if he left his journal behind since he didn't want to risk a lecture from Haibara. He made sure that the journal was completely hidden before going into the living room where the Detective Boys (excluding Haibara) were waiting.

Ran watched from the kitchen as Ayumi happily grabbed Conan's hand. She felt her face flare up with jealousy. She knew that she shouldn't be jealous of a little girl but she couldn't help it. It didn't help that Conan…that Shinichi…didn't do much to stop Ayumi's advances.

"Come on, Conan!" Ayumi exclaimed as she dragged Conan after her. "Hakase and Ai-chan are waiting in the car!"

Conan threw a small desperate look at Ran before being pulled out the door. "Bye, Ran-neechan!" He called. "I'll be back in a couple of days!"

Ran watched from the office window as Conan and his friends got into Agasa yellow beetle and drove away. "Be safe, Shinichi." She whispered before returning to her chores. It wasn't long before she gave up. "Now I can't work! Stupid Shinichi! It's like he's always trying to find new ways to make me worry!"

Ran went into Conan's room and found where he hid the notebook. It had been a while since she had read it. She still felt a little bad about reading it since it was something personal but she felt like she was closer to Shinichi whenever she read it.

Tears fell onto the pages as she read. "I never knew that you felt like that! I know that you want to keep this a secret but you should tell someone how you feel! You're so stupid! Why are you always so stubborn and proud!" Still, Ran blushed when she read everything that he wrote about her. Everything that Shinichi wrote was so overwhelming. She wiped her tears away and looked at the clock. Her father would be back any minute now. Ran went into her room and put the notebook underneath her pillow. She didn't really think about it but she wanted to feel closer to Shinichi. "It'll be fine as long as I put it back before he gets back from camping."

(case required)

When Conan got back, Ran noticed the new bruises and scrapes immediately. "Conan!? What happened!?" She inquired worriedly.

Conan just shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "We ran into some kidnapper in the woods but Agasa Hakase solved the case!" He smiled childishly. Ran sighed and went into the kitchen.

"Why does Shinichi always end up in some sort of case no matter where he goes!?" Still, she was glad that the small detective was safe. As she made some lunch for herself and Conan, she found herself wondering about what Conan had said about Agasa solving the case. "Since when was Agasa a detective? I know that Agasa knows about Shinichi's secret but could it be that he's also taking credit for cases that Conan actually solves!? Now that I think about it, Sonoko and Dad weren't very good at solving anything either until Conan came around…Do they know too!? But Sonoko would've told me! How is Conan doing it then?"

She considered that maybe her Dad and Sonoko actually were good but knowing Shinichi, he probably really did have something to do with it. Ran decided that on the next case that they accompanied her dad on, that she would pay special attention to how Conan could possibly be involved.

Time Skip

Her chance came right after lunch. Right as Ran and Conan were cleaning up (Kogoro was sleeping at his desk), someone knocked at the door. Ran opened it to reveal a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked like a foreigner.

"Is the Sleeping Kogoro here?" She asked. Ran looked back at her sleeping, hangover father. She let out a sigh.

"Could you wait here one moment?" The woman nodded as Ran closed the door. The woman stood there awkwardly as she heard running and crashing sounds from inside. A moment later, Ran let her in and introduced herself. "I'm Ran Mouri and this," she indicated to the small boy beside her. "Is Conan."

Conan would've said something if Kogoro didn't suddenly push him out of the way. "I'm the famous detective, Kogoro Mouri. How can I help a damsel in distress such as yourself?" The woman smiled uncomfortably as Kogoro led her to the office area. When the woman spoke, she spoke slowly. It was easy to tell that she wasn't very good at Japanese.

"Um…My name is Melody Jones. I'm an American actress. I came to Japan to shoot some scenes for a movie. Lately," the woman paused. "I've been getting some threatening phone calls at my hotel room. Normally, I wouldn't really be bothered by that but…" She trailed off.

Conan finished for her. "There's more, isn't there?" Melody nodded.

"Just the other day, someone sent some flowers to my dressing room but the arrangement had poison ivy in it. And yesterday, a car tried to run me over in the hotel parking lot." Melody stood up and reached across the small coffee table to hold Kogoro's hands. "Please help me! You've got to find the person doing this!"

It took a moment for Kogoro to compose himself. "You don't have to worry, Miss Jones. This will all be over in no time with me on the case!" Melody smiled before noticing that something was pulling on her skirt. She looked down and saw the small boy looking up at her with questioning eyes.

"Are you the princess of a ninja clan?" He asked. Ran stared at him bewildered. She had almost forgotten that Conan was even there. Not to mention that the question was so random and off topic that Ran couldn't help but wonder where the idea even came from.

Melody smiled gently at the boy as she crouched to bring them to eye level. "No. Why do you ask?"

Conan smiled brightly. "Because it would take someone really sneaky to sneak something like poison ivy into your dressing room! So it must be a rival ninja!"

A second later, Conan was holding his head as Kogoro glared at him. "You idiot! Why would a ninja be after her!? Nosy kids shouldn't be asking stupid questions!" Conan just looked annoyed.

Ran thought for a moment. If Conan really was just a kid, than she would've completely ignored his question. But since she knew the truth that Conan was really Shinichi, she knew that there must have been some sort of significance. She sighed quietly. She didn't know exactly where Conan was going with the whole ninja thing but whatever it was, it seemed that her father sure didn't get it either. She hesitated a little before joining into the conversation.

"But why ninjas? Couldn't anyone have snuck into her dressing room?"

Melody shook her head. "You have to be a part of the staff to get into the dressing room area. Unless you have a reason and the authority to be there, the security won't even let you in."

Conan nodded enthusiastically. "That's why it must have been a ninja because only staff would be near the dressing rooms!"

"I've got it!" Kogoro yelled. "The person who's threatening you, Miss Jones, must be one of the staff members! It also explains how they know which hotel and what room you're staying in!"

Melody just looked more scared. "What am I going to do!?"

Ran put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Don't worry. My dad will find the person who's threatening you. He's a really good detective." Melody took a deep breath.

"Alright. Why don't you come to the set tomorrow? I would feel a lot safer with the famous detective around!"

Kogoro laughed. "You can count on me!" Melody gave Kogoro her contact information and left.

Time Skip

After dinner, Conan went into his room. He had been busy thinking about the case all day and hadn't had much of a chance to do anything else. He went straight to his futon and reached underneath. He continued feeling around for a minute before his eyes grew wide with panic. "I know I put my journal here! Could someone have taken it!?"

He thought about asking Ran but it would only make him suspicious. If she helped him find it, there was a good chance that she would look inside. But he couldn't look for it by himself since Ran might want to know what he was looking for. "What am I going to do!?" He started pacing.

Meanwhile

Ran watched Conan head to his room, feeling as though she forgot to do something important. She washed the dishes, trying to figure out what she had forgotten when it suddenly came to her. "I forgot to put Shinichi's journal back!" She abandoned the dishes and walked quietly to the bedroom, hoping that Conan hadn't noticed the missing item yet. She was discouraged when she peeked into the room to find Conan pacing back and forth across the floor.

Ran knew enough about Shinichi to know that he was panicking. In fact, if he had been anybody else, she was sure that he would be hyperventilating. Ran went into her bedroom and took the journal out from underneath her pillow. She stared at it as a million thoughts went through her head. "Should I tell him that I know? But what if now isn't the right time!? Then how am I going to return the journal without him noticing!? I can't put it in the same place since it's obviously not there! But if I put it somewhere else, that would only make me suspicious! "Ran put the notebook on top her homework. She noticed that Shinichi's notebook blended in perfectly with her own notebooks. This gave Ran an idea.

Time Skip

Five minutes later, Ran came into Conan's bedroom with a vacuum. Conan just stared, not really trusting himself to talk at the moment. Ran smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I spent the weekend cleaning and forgot to vacuum in here when I was done!" Conan studied Ran.

"If Ran was cleaning, then she must have seen the journal! But she doesn't seem to be suspicious. Maybe she didn't read it…" Conan tried to act calm. "Hey Ran-neechan! I left one of my school notebooks in here but I can't find it." He was careful not to ask Ran if she saw it specifically since she might feel like she had to help search if she didn't see it.

Ran pretended to think for a moment. "I picked up a lot of stuff but most of it was Dad's…I think I did find something like that though. I put it with the rest of your school stuff." Conan made a beeline to where his school supplies were waiting by the front door and saw his notebook packed safely in his backpack. He let out the breath that he hadn't even realized that he had been holding. He knew that he was lucky that Ran hadn't read it but a small part of him was almost hoping that she had. Then he would've been able to be himself.

"Still, I should be more careful where I leave it! Ran's not the only one who could find out my secret!" Conan looked back towards the room with a small smile on his face. He couldn't help but think about how amazing Ran really was. She was always there right when he needed her, even if she didn't know it. "Thanks for the help, Ran."

 _Entry #13_

 _An American women came by today with a case. It actually sounds pretty interesting. We're going over to investigate tomorrow…or should I say that the "Sleeping Kogoro" is going to investigate. It's so frustrating when I have to give him hints while still acting like a kid! The worst part is that Kogoro never listens to me at all! He just knocks me on the head and tell me to get out of the way! If only I was Shinichi Kudo! Then everybody would listen to me!_

 _I don't know why but it seemed as if Ran was trying to help me today. I don't think Kogoro would've got it if it wasn't for her! On another note, I swear that I almost had a heart attack today! I was so nervous when Ran came into the room with a vacuum! I'm lucky that she thought that this notebook was for school. I don't know what I would do if she had actually read it! Just to be on the safe side though, I'm going to start keeping my journal in my school bag. That way, it won't look out of place._

 _I almost wish that Ran did read it. I miss being able to talk to her like normal. I wish I could tell her how much she means to me. The closest I can ever get to telling her is writing it down in this journal. I want to help her know how amazing she truly is. I would be so lost without her._

The next day, Ran and Conan accompanied Kogoro to the movie set where they were greeted by a tall woman in a grey business suit. She had dark brown hair and matching eyes. She was tall and had a sense of authority about her. She gave them a small smile, making her seem less strict but still dignified. "My name is Masa Yamada. I'm Melody's assistant while she is here in Japan. Melody is busy at the moment so please allow me to show you around."

The three followed Masa as she showed them around the set and dressing room areas. She made sure to introduce them to the security so that they wouldn't be confused with trespassing fans. She ended the tour in the break room. There were small sandwiches and cookies set out on a long table in the back to the room. Near the table, Melody was talking with a small girl around Conan's (apparent) age. The girl had blonde hair and blue eyes and looked very much like Melody.

Ran watched as Conan went closer to them but didn't say anything. Instead, he just stood there patiently, as if waiting until they were done. "I wonder what Shinichi is up to?"

Melody and the girl finally noticed Conan. The girl smiled shyly at him as Melody introduced her. "This is my costar, Anna Mason. She's playing the part of my long-lost sister. She's not very good at Japanese though."

Ran wasn't at all surprised when Conan started talking to Anna in English. "My name is Conan. It is very nice to meet you." Melody, Anna, and Masa were all surprised at the boy's fluent English. Ran had no idea what Conan said but the girl seemed extremely excited.

"Hello, Conan! Are you here to catch the bad guy trying to hurt Melody?" Anna asked. Conan nodded.

"Yes. I am here with the famous detective, Kogoro Mouri. I just help out but we'll catch the bad guy!"

Anna overjoyed smile turned mischievous. "I know something that might help but I won't tell you unless you do something for me first!"

Conan sighed. He wasn't sure if the girl was bluffing or not but the only way to find out was by doing whatever she wanted. "Alright. What do I need to do?"

Ran felt a little bit uneasy by Anna's smile. She may not know what the two were saying but it seemed like the little girl was planning something troublesome. "She's only a kid! How bad can it really be!?"

Apparently, really bad…at least for Conan. "You have to play with me! And not just any game! You have to play dress-up!" Anna giggled. Even Ran suppressed a laugh when she saw Conan's face. She understood the word "dress-up" and figured out what was going on.

Conan looked around the room. Masa and Melody were busy talking to Kogoro and had forgotten all about the kids. He turned his gaze to Ran, desperation in his eyes. Ran smiled encouragingly.

"Go ahead and play with your new friend!" Ran felt slightly bad for pressuring Shinichi like that but she figured that Anna might have a good reason for asking Conan to play dress-up. Besides, Anna looked really excited at the prospect. The poor girl probably didn't have anyone to play with since she couldn't speak a lot of Japanese and there weren't a lot of kids on set anyway. Ran felt bad for her. Shinichi could just suck it up!

Conan turned back to Anna. "Do you really know something?" Anna nodded. "Do we have to play dress-up?" Another nod. "Fine. But no make-up and no pictures! And I'll only play for 10 minutes."

Anna broke out into a huge smile. "Sounds fair! Come on!" She pulled Conan after her to what was obviously her dressing room. Ran followed behind. Just because Shinichi was forced into this doesn't mean that she wouldn't watch! Not to mention she didn't want Shinichi to be alone with another girl, even if the girl was just a kid!

The dressing room was small and there was a single life size mirror against one of the walls. Across from the mirror was a tall metal bar with held various clothes. The clothes were separated down the middle. On one side were numerous princess costumes and frilly dresses while the other side of the bar held clothes that were cute but kind of normal. Anna looked at Ran and pointed towards the princess dresses. Ran understood and picked out a random outfit from that side and handed it to the small girl.

"I think that this will look very cute on you!" Anna said as she held a sparkly pink dress up to Conan. Ran saw the slight blush cross his face as he grabbed the dress and walked behind a curtained corner of the room.

A couple minutes later, Conan stepped out in the girly outfit. Ran noticed that he wasn't smiling at all but Anna didn't seem to care. She gave the shrunken teen some instructions and he obeyed grudgingly. He spun around, did curtsies, and even let Anna put a tiara on his head. After what seemed like forever, Anna finally let him go.

"This was the most humiliating thing I've ever done! Why did Ran have to watch too!? If she ever found out who I really was, I'd never be able to face her ever again!" Conan hoped that what Anna knew was worth it!

Time Skip

Another ten minutes later, Ran and Conan were walking back to the break room together. Conan seemed in a slightly better mood after Anna told him something but Conan's cheeks remained red with embarrassment. Ran remembered how proud Shinichi used to be and how he would have never done something like that. He seemed like a completely different person when he was Conan.

"I've got to go to the bathroom! I'll see you later, Ran-neechan!" Conan ran off suddenly, not even giving Ran time to process what he just said. Ran noticed that the bathroom also happened to be in the same direction as Melody's dressing room.

When Ran got back to the break room, everyone was in a state of panic. Inspector Megure and some other officers were there questioning some security guards. Ran went up to her father and asked what happened.

"One of the light technicians ate one of the sandwiches and collapsed. Apparently, that sandwich was poisoned."

"That's terrible! Is he going to be alright!?" Ran asked.

Kogoro nodded. "It seems like it but he won't be able to speak for a while. The problem is that the sandwich was meant for Melody."

"How do you know?" A small voice asked. Ran looked down and saw Conan standing right next to her. She hadn't even noticed him come into the room!

"Because the sandwich was a turkey sandwich with mustard on it! It had a toothpick with an olive on it as well. That just happens to be Melody's favorite type of sandwich! It was the only one like that on this whole table so Melody was sure to take that one!" Kogoro explained before realizing who he was talking to. "Quit being nosy!" He ordered as he brought his fist down on Conan's head.

"Maybe you shouldn't pick on kids!" Ran reprimanded. "Conan was just wondering!" Kogoro just grumbled.

Conan looked up at Ran. She didn't usually stand up for him when Kogoro did that. In fact, Conan was usually the one who was scolded. Conan looked around and saw Melody crying nearby. Masa was trying her best to comfort her. He inched closer to the snack table and looked it over. He confirmed that Kogoro was right about there being no more sandwiches like that. He took a deep breath before saying something out loud.

"Ah le le!? They don't have anything I like!"

"What are you talking about now!?" Kogoro demanded. Conan continued.

"I was hungry and wanted something to eat but I don't like the stuff here! That's very mean of the caterers to forget something for me!"

"But the caterers don't know what you like! Why would they make something special for you?" Megure asked.

"They made something special for Melody! They made a sandwich just for her!"

"Are you stupid!?" Kogoro chimed in. "Even the caterers wouldn't make just one sandwich for one person! They would make more in case other people wanted some too!" Kogoro's eyes grew wide with realization. Ran marveled at how Conan was able to lead her father on without being too obvious.

"Maybe the sandwich wasn't there in the first place! It must have been made separately! Which means…that it wasn't meant for Melody in the first place!" Everyone just stared at him in disbelief. "The light technician was probably given the sandwich by someone who owed him! They poisoned him so that they wouldn't have to pay!"

Ran noticed a slight movement in the corner of her eye. Without turning her head, she shifted her gaze to Conan and saw him holding his wristwatch to his eye. He pressed one of the side buttons and something thin shot out…right towards her father! A moment later, Kogoro was swaying around before his back hit the wall right next to the table. He slid down into his normal position as the Sleeping Kogoro. Ran looked around for Conan but didn't see any sign of him except for the table cloth moving as if someone had brushed it.

"At least that is how it looks." Kogoro said. Ran noticed for the first time in a while that her father wasn't moving his mouth. "Yesterday, Miss Jones told me that poison ivy had been snuck into her dressing room. It's obvious that someone who works on the set must be after Melody for some reason. The security on set is very tight, especially for the dressing rooms. This is probably to keep fans from sneaking in and disturbing the actors. Am I correct?" Melody nodded.

"Melody also told me that a car had tried to run her over in her hotel's parking lot. While anybody could've found out her hotel, it would've been very difficult to find out her room number. Yet, she got threatening phone calls straight to her room."

Megure interrupted. "Couldn't anyone on the staff have found out where she was staying?"

"Yes but celebrities tend not to tell even staff what room they are in. Only the people who work extremely close to them know. Isn't that right, Miss Jones?"

"Yes, it is. I have a lot of fans, even in Japan. I don't want where I'm staying to be public so I only tell those who need to know."

Kogoro continued. "And who have you told?"

"Only my manager, Anna, and Masa."

"Who's Anna?" Megure asked. Conan popped out from under the table.

"Anna is Melody's costar! She's the same age as me!" Conan went back underneath the table.

"Send one of your officers to get her immediately!" Kogoro instructed. Megure did as the sleeping sleuth told him.

A few moments later, an officer came in with the small blonde girl. "Could you tell us what you know about the case?" Megure asked her. Anna just blinked at him nervously.

"I'm afraid Anna doesn't know a lot of Japanese. I usually end up translating for her." Melody replied before repeating the inspector's question in English.

"I was in Melody's dressing room a couple of days ago. I was there to practice some scenes with her. When Melody went to the bathroom, I decided to play hide and seek. I hid behind some of her costumes. While I was hiding, I saw someone dress in black come in and put some flowers on the counter. The flowers were really pretty but they made my eyes water. I'm allergic to pollen. I left the room as soon as they were gone." Melody translated Anna's response.

"That doesn't tell us anything!" Megure commented.

Kogoro continued on. "Usually not but Anna noticed something about the culprit as they were leaving."

"They wore a small brown hat!" The girl exclaimed as if just remembering.

"But it wasn't really a brown hat that Anna saw. It was long brown hair pulled into a bun. Anna only thought that it was a hat because her allergies made it hard for her to see. The only person with brown hair long enough and was close enough to Melody to be able to pull off all of these crimes was none other than Masa Yamada."

Everyone turned their attention to the accused woman. "Are you kidding!? Where's your proof!?"

"That sandwich wasn't there when we first arrived. Because there was a big chance that someone else would take it if it was on the table, you left the sandwich in Melody's dressing room. What you didn't count on was one of the light technicians coming into the dressing room looking for Melody. When he didn't find her, he noticed the sandwich on the counter and decided that it was probably okay to eat it. However, eating isn't allowed in the dressing rooms because crumbs could get on the costumes. So he took the sandwich to the break room."

"How does that prove that I did it!?" Masa demanded. "Any staff member could've left her a sandwich!"

"But how did they know what she liked? Only those close enough could've known exactly what she would've eaten. Besides, it's still on your hand."

"What are you talking about!?" Masa asked, horrified.

"The poison. You've been using your left hand to comfort Melody but you're actually right-handed, aren't you? The poison is still on your right-hand since you didn't have a chance to wash it yet. You had to make sure Melody would eat it first because if the sandwich got stale before she had a chance to eat it, the sandwich would end up being thrown away. You didn't want to waste any time so you figured that you could wash your hands after Melody went into her dressing room. But the light technician was faster and with all the commotion, slipping away would have only made you suspicious."

Masa's eyes were filled with tears. "I didn't want to hurt anyone! I only wanted Melody to quit the movie!" Everyone looked at her, bewildered.

"But why would you do that? Why me?" Melody asked.

"Because my sister was the original star. But then she got into a car accident and died. The movie production was canceled but then they announced that you would be replacing her! You two had costarred in a few movies before but you always seemed to outshine her! She was always just a supporting character and to have her first main role stolen by someone like you…I couldn't stand it! It was like her hard work was all for nothing!"

Melody just blinked. "I remember your sister. She was an amazing actress and I looked up to her. She actually taught me a lot about acting and brought out my best. I wasn't going to take this role but I heard what had happened and decided to do it, in her memory."

Masa cried even more at Melody's words. "I'm so sorry! I'm sorry!" Megure handcuffed her and took her away.

Conan came back out from under the table and ran up to Ran, who was also crying. "Are you okay, Ran-neechan?" Conan asked. Ran noticed that his expression was almost sad and grown-up. She knew that it wasn't Conan asking but Shinichi.

"I'm fine. I just feel like this whole thing could've been avoided if only they had talked about it from the beginning." Ran shook her head clear and smiled. "How about we leave Dad behind and get some ice cream? I'm sure he's still thinking about the case."

Conan nodded and let Ran grab his hand. Before they got out of the room, Anna stopped them.

"Thanks for your help! I had tons of fun today!" Anna blushed. "Make sure you watch the movie when it comes out!" She gave Conan a quick kiss on the cheek before running off, giggling.

"On second thought, how about we skip the ice cream and go straight home!" Ran said coldly, letting go of Conan's hand.

"Why is she mad!?" Conan thought. He just couldn't understand what Ran was thinking, no matter how hard he tried.

Time Skip

That night, Ran was in her room trying to study. Her mind kept turning back over the events of the day. Conan must have put her father to sleep with his watch. She would've wondered where he was even able to get something like that but she figured that Agasa probably made it. Still, she wondered how Conan was able to make her father talk. She felt like the answer was there but she couldn't quite figure it out. Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ran! What's up!?" Shinichi's voice asked.

"The bow tie!" Ran remembered. She had completely forgotten how she had found Conan's bow tie that one day. "Nothing much. Dad just got back from a case. It was actually kind of sad but at least nobody died."

"That's good. Anything else interesting happen?" Shinichi asked. He was sure that she would say no but ended up surprised.

"Yep! Conan made a new friend today! They played for a little bit! You should've seen it! A little girl actually got him to wear a dress!" She laughed at the memory. She knew that Shinichi probably wanted to forget all about it but she felt like she deserved to tease him a little!

Shinichi paused, unsure of what to say. "I bet that was funny. Poor kid. It must've been embarrassing."

"Is Shinichi actually opening up!?" Ran thought. Even though it wasn't directly, Shinichi just admitted to being embarrassed! "It was pretty funny but I guess I do feel a little bad for him. It takes someone really brave to do something embarrassing, especially when it's against their nature!"

On the other end, Conan blushed. He didn't think that he was brave but Ran's words still made him feel a little better. "I have to go now but I'll call you soon! Bye Ran!" He hung up and grabbed his journal.

 _Entry #14_

 _I solved the case with the American woman. Normally, it'd be no big deal but Ran has been giving me the silent treatment since we got home! Shouldn't I be the one who's mad!? I had to play dress-up! It was so humiliating! I'm a famous detective! I shouldn't have to stoop so low as wearing a sparkly pink princess dress! How far must I fall before this is all over!? The worst part was that Ran was there! I almost died from all the stuff Anna made me do! I was so grateful when her 10 minutes were up!_

 _When I called Ran, I just wanted to make sure that she was okay. She just had to bring up the whole dress-up thing! At least she thought it was funny…Still, she made me feel a little better when she said that Conan was brave. I'm a little sad that she only thinks that about Conan and not Shinichi. But that's the way it is. I can't be Shinichi Kudo and Conan Edogawa at the same time. If only it was that easy. I wish I didn't have to call Ran just to talk to her as myself. I can't afford to open up to her. Ran is more important to me than how I feel. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice though._

That night, it was raining heavily and thundering on Tokyo. Ran returned to the soaked agency. She was frozen. She put down her umbrella and her jacket. Kogoro Mouri, who was watching TV and drinking a beer, watched her daughter undress.

\- So you found it? Kogoro asked him.

\- No. And yet I searched a long time, I took the metro and I phoned everyone we knew. Even Professor Agasa does not know where he is. She was worried.

\- Ah. His father replied, then drinking his beer.

\- Dad ! Are not you worried? It's Conan I'm talking about!

Ran lowered his head and glanced at his cell phone to see if anyone had not phoned him or left a message.

\- It's been since this morning when I went to school that I did not see him ...

Her father seeing her daughter was worried.

In Osaka, the evening rain was not stopped. Heiji Hattori was in front of the window overlooking their beautiful garden. He hung up his mobile phone. It was Ran who asked him if he had any idea where Conan was. Alas, he did not know anything about it. He wondered if he had had a big deal going on and he did not want to talk to Ran about it. Heiji found this strange.

A few moments later, he heard the bell ring at the door. He went there. Opening, he was surprised to see a little boy with glasses.

\- Shinichi ?!

Head down, Conan was standing in front of the door in the rain. He was wet to the skin.

\- Hi Hattori. I can enter ?

\- Yes ! Of course ! Returns.

Conan returned. He took off his sneakers, his waistcoat and hung it up. He was shaking with cold.

\- You're soaked. Wait, stay here. I'll get you a cloth and a vest.

Two minutes later, Heiji came down with a cloth and a vest. He gave them to the boy. Conan took off his glasses and dried his hair.

\- Where were you? Ran phoned me, she has not seen you since yesterday morning. I know you're an adult but she, not. It is made of ink blood.

Conan did not answer. He finished drying himself. And when he finished, he put on Hattori's waistcoat. He was swimming in it. The coat was way too big for him. His hands could not be seen falling on the ground. But he had to deal with it. He entered the living room followed by Heiji.

\- Eh Kudo? I'm talking to you.

\- Heiji, can I ask you for a favor?

Not until you tell me what's going on. you come to my door like a zombie without warning anyone.

It's going to be Heiji. It will take me a moment. It's not like that I was not used to this body. Conan replied ironically.

\- What will you do ? Are you going to tell him the truth?

\- Whose ? A Ran? In any case, I have to find a way. I will not stand to see her crying for ten long years waiting for me.

Moment of silence

\- For a year, she hoped I would come back. Sometimes crying. The worst thing is that I am next to her every day and that I can not do anything. I call him from time to time as Shinichi but ... I know it does not replace the fact that I'm not here.

Moment of silence

\- When I think about it ... I have no merit to make her suffer like that. I'm just a bastard.

Conan felt really bad and Heiji, who stared at him, was the same. He wanted to comfort him so much. He knew that his friend was hiding the truth from Ran to protect her from the organization. He could not reveal his identity until the story of men in black was over. Hattori turned his head toward the window. He imagined Shinichi growing up next to the woman he loved seeing her cry without being able to tell him anything. It did not have to be easy for him and Heiji was aware of it.

Suddenly, he had a revelation. He looked at the little boy before lowering his head.

\- Personally, I will not say that you are a bastard, Kudo. But rather ... a guardian angel!

Conan at these words, began to fix his confused friend.

\- Huh?

\- A guardian angel is a person who protects a human by being invisible to his eyes. Even if he is always at his side, the human will not see it.

\- You will not tell me the opposite Kudo. Heiji continued. But how many times would she have died if you were not protecting her? She would have drowned in a pool. She would have sunk with a ship or crushed by a train.

Conan turned his head, thinking about what the high school detective was telling him.

\- Kudo. You are as I have just written the angel. She does not see you as Shinichi but you are always there, by her side, to protect her.

Heiji got up and walked to the window.

\- You are an exemplary detective, Kudo. You are ready to kill your life to save innocent people. You are a hero!

\- Ohe. Oh! You do not exaggerate a little there! Conan remarked ironically.

\- What but it's true! Hey! You have found a smile. That means I cheered you up.

\- Euhm ... .not quite. Conan replied, crossing his arms.

\- What! But what does that mean? Wait to see!

Hattori went to Conan and started tickling him. The little boy bent to protect himself but to no avail. He was too strong.

\- Little boy. You doubt the biggest detective in the west of the country.

Conan laughed full lung.

\- Ahahaha! Stop Hattori!

\- So like the famous Shinichi Kudo with tickling.

\- Ahahaha! No stop! Ahahaha!

\- Do you see that?

Heiji continued to tickle him while laughing when the doorbell interrupted them. They both stared at the direction of the entrance.

\- You are waiting for someone ?

\- No. Wait, I'll go see you.

Hattori got up and went towards the entrance. He opened. He did not expect to see a girl. Her childhood friend, Kazuha. She was lazy under stress.

\- Kazuha! What are you doing here ?

\- Heiji! It's horrible !

\- What? What is it ? He asked panicked.

Kazuha returned and took off his shoes.

\- Ran phoned me. Conan is gone!

At these words, Heiji sighed with relief. He thought for a moment that something very serious had happened on Kazuha's side.

\- But you realize. He left without saying anything ...

\- corn case ...

\- She phoned everyone she knew.

\- Eho case?

\- She searched for hours in the rain ...

\- Yes, but ... He!

\- And if something had happened to him ...

\- You listen to me?!

\- That he was kidnapped by the mafia or a serial killer ...

\- CONAN IS IN MY LIVING ROOM! CRIA Heiji.

Kazuha stopped speaking and looked at Hattori. The detective took a deep breath.

\- Kazuha ... Conan is in my living room!

On this revelation, the schoolgirl ran to the living room and saw the little boy on the couch waving at him.

\- Case of salvation. It's okay?

The girl was shocked.

\- Co ... Conan!

\- Conan came to see me to talk. Hattori was saying as he entered the living room.

\- Di ... .discuss?

Kazuha regained consciousness.

\- Discuss what?

\- Well, we were discussing ...

\- Between dude! Heiji cut him. We had a discussion between guy. Is not it Conan?

\- Yes. That's it !

\- A discussion between guy? Said Heiji? Do not you think it's a bit too early for Conan-Kun to talk to men? You have ten years of differences!

Euhm no. I'm the same age as him.

"Ah well ... he must know that he will wait for him in ten years. You know the life of man is not easy. Hey, little guy? Heiji recounted rubbing Conan's hair.

Ohé.Ohé! You make a little too much Hattori!

\- In any case ! I am very happy that Conan is doing well. I will immediately inform Ran.

Kazuha took his mobile phone out of the room. The two relieved boys resumed their conversation discreetly.

\- Eh Kudo! For the next time, tell him where you are going. She went to get you in the rain, hours.

\- Yes, I'll think about it ...

\- Good.

\- Thank you so much.

Kazuha went back into the living room.

\- Ran is relieved. She'll be waiting for you at Tokyo Station, Conan.

\- Yes. I go there anyway! Conan answered as he walked towards the front door.

\- Wait, I'm going to accompany you to Osaka station. Are you coming with us Kazuha?

\- Yes. But tell the boys?

The two boys turned in the direction of the high school girl.

\- Are you sure you do not hide anything?

The two detectives looked at each other. What would they tell him? She must not know Conan's true intentions. The spectacled boy stepped forward, head down.

\- All right, I'll tell you everything.

With these words, Hattori was shocked. He did not understand his aptitude. He did not have to say it.

\- Conan!

\- Waiting Heiji, I'll tell Kazuha everything.

\- Conan!

\- That's Kazuha. I came to Heiji's house to ask him ...

Heiji bit his lip. He said to himself, in his head: No idiot! What are you doing Kudo? She'll reveal everything to Ran! Conan was in front of the high school girl. He looked at her and became all red.

\- It was to ask him ...

\- Yes Conan?

\- It was to ask him, how to flirt a girl!

Hattori almost choked.

\- In fact, I'm really in love with a girl and I came to Heiji to ask for advice.

\- Oh that's so cute Conan!

\- But can I ask you for a favor? I have not told Ran yet. I do not want her to know it would make me feel uncomfortable. I want to tell her myself. You understand ?

\- No worries, I'll keep the secret. Oh that's so cute!

Heiji was stunned. He said to himself: Well done Kudo!

\- But what I do not understand. That's why you asked him? She pointed to Heiji. You could have found better as a coach. This one is not terrible.

\- What! What do you mean by that ?

\- I mean you're bad about serious relationships. That there are only sexy bombs that interest you! Here !

\- What! But it is not true. In addition to that it's my life. I do what I want. What are you doing too!

\- If it looks at me! I'm your childhood friend and it's my business if you go out with Poufs!

\- Yeah that's it but yes ... and what is the relationship with Conan. He has the right to come and ask me if he wants.

\- That's not the Heiji question!

\- Yes, exactly !

And it's gone! They look like real kids these two!

After their little argument, the two high school students made their heads all the way. They said no word to the station. Conan watched them with a sigh.

If I had known that it would have been this way all along, I would have gone alone.

Arriving at the wharf where the train was heading towards Tokyo, high school students said goodbye to Conan.

\- Chao Conan. I cross my fingers so that it works between you and your lover.

Kazuha crossed his fingers and Conan became embarrassed.

\- Thank you.

\- What's her name ?

\- Ah ... well, well.

\- Oh Conan! Your train will be leaving soon! You have to go up! Heiji interrupted, staring at him.

\- Ah yes. I've got to go. Ran is waiting for me.

\- You'll tell me next time. Go, welcome back. She said to him with a smile.

\- Bye Conan. Be very careful you never know. Okay ?

\- Ok Heiji. Thank you very much. Chao. Conan answered as he boarded the train.

A few hours later, he found Ran at the station.

\- Hi, Ran.

Conan! She took him in his arms. Never do that again. I was very worried.

\- Yes. Excuse me.

\- It does not matter. But next time tell me just where are you going? Come on, let's go home.

She took Conan by the hand and they walked towards the agency.

 _Entry #15_

 _Ran's been acting a little differently lately. She doesn't scold me for being in the way during a case anymore. She hasn't asked me where I'm going every time I leave the house. And the few times that I have broken curfew, instead of getting mad, she cooks me something quick to eat and sends me off to bed. I know that I shouldn't be complaining about having more freedom but it's completely out of character for Ran to act like this! It makes me worried about whether she's really okay._

 _She seems to be happier than ever but I get the feeling that she's not as happy as she seems. Sometimes, I catch her giving me a strange look, almost as if she feels sorry for me. No…that's not it. It's more as if I remind her of something sad or tragic. Could it be that Conan reminds her too much of Shinichi!?_

 _I never feel insulted but the day Ran came drunk because of me I really feel insulted. I don't know she had it in her mind or not but I don't want to see Ran with a look like that. I feel like I'm ruining her life! I try so hard to keep Ran safe and happy but am I really helping? Now that I think about it, aren't I the reason why Ran feels like this? I put her through so much just by being around her. I can't help but wonder if it's even worth it. Would Ran be better off if I wasn't around? She could fall in love with someone else, someone who is more worthy to be by her side. I always try strength bond with her as Conan but I think I should not try to do because it hurting her more and more. Would she be happier if I just disappeared? I think I should start living back with parents as my face will always remind her of Shinichi. That way it would be easier for her to move on. All this time, I've been breaking her heart by keeping her waiting, yet I still can't appear before her eyes. I never want to see her cry anymore, even if it means I no longer exist in her heart._

Conan put his journal back in his backpack right as Ran came out of her room. "Conan? What are you up to?"

"Nothing, Ran-neechan! I was just about to watch some TV!" He hurriedly switched the TV on and pretended to be interested in the random episode of Kamen Yaiba.

Ran moved to stand in front of the TV. "There's no way you're going to watch TV all day! You already watch too much!" Of course, this wasn't really true but Conan couldn't really argue since he blamed TV for all the conveniently helpful facts that he knew. "Kazuha just called and said that Heiji was struggling with a case. I told her that we'll be boarding the train within an hour so make sure you pack everything you need for the weekend."

Conan nodded and headed off to his room. Kogoro was still half-way asleep as he placed his clothes into a small suitcase. "What sort of case is this that we have to rush to board the train?" Conan thought as he stuffed his own belongings into his own suitcase.

About fifteen minutes later, Ran, Conan, and Kogoro where in the back of a taxi heading straight to the train station.

About 4 hours later, the trio was waiting at Osaka train station. "Ku-Conan! It's nice to see ya!" Conan glared at the tall dark-skinned teenager as he answered back cheerfully.

"Heiji-niichan! Is it true that you need Uncle's help!?" Ran almost laughed to see the two detective tease each other. Even though Conan was still acting like a child, his words seemed to hold a secret meaning that only he and Heiji understood.

"Actually, Kazuha was the one who invited ya! I could take care of this by myself! I'll let ya tag along but only because I'm sure ya wanna learn from your mentor how real detectives work!" Heiji boasted. Conan's glare only intensified.

"How 'bout we go and get somethin' to eat?" Kazuha suggested. "I bet that you're all pretty hungry after that long train ride."

The group went to a small okonomiyaki restaurant and discussed the case over their food. "There have been a series of kidnappings all over Osaka. All of the victims are kids less than 10 years old." Kazuha explained. "Everyone in Osaka is worried and many parents have gone straight to Heiji since he's 'The Great Detective of the West'."

Conan was the first to ask a question. "How many victims have there been?"

"Six so far. There haven't been any bodies found yet but that doesn't mean anythin'," Heiji replied. "But now that I got my special little helper with me," He put his hand on Conan's head. "I'll be able to find those kids in no time!"

"You should just leave this to the professionals," Kogoro declared, gesturing to himself.

"You're not exactly professional yourself…" Conan thought with a small laugh. "So what do the victims have in common besides their close ages?"

"Not much. They were kidnapped from different parts of Osaka, go to different schools, and their parents have different jobs. The only thing they really have in common is the fact that they were all short for their age and have dark brown hair."

"That's not exactly much to go on." Kogoro responded. "There has to be something else that connects the victims! How were they taken?"

"They were all kidnapped from large crowds while the parents were too distracted to notice anythin' wrong."

"Is there any place that hasn't been hit yet where there's a large crowd?" Conan had gone back to asking the questions.

"A few. There's the Umeda Sky Building, Tennoji Zoo, and Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. There's probably a lot more other places too."

At this point, everyone became more interested in the food than in kidnappings…everyone except Heiji and Conan. Ran noticed that Conan hardly ate anything as he thought over the information given him. "That's just like Shinichi to skip eating because of a case!"

As soon as everyone was done eating, the group decided to check out the Umeda Sky Building since it might be the culprit's next target. When they arrived, Ran was overwhelmed by the immense crowd, most of which were probably tourists. She did notice that parents were keeping their children close. She wondered if it was because of the crowd or because of the recent incidents. They went straight to the Floating Garden Observatory, which was 170 meters above the ground. Needless to say, Kogoro ended up waiting at ground level.

The first thing everyone noticed as they entered the open-air rooftop observation platform was that it was very windy. They ignored the wind and soon, Heiji was pointing out all the great landmarks of Osaka, proudly declaring each as Osaka's pride and joy. Conan rolled his eyes as the Osakan detective even pointed out the planes that were landing at Osaka International Airport.

While everyone else was enjoying the 360-degree view of the city, Conan was carefully observing the nearby people. Even though he had no idea how the culprit looked like or if he was even here, it wouldn't hurt to look for someone acting suspicious. Besides, the detectives' very presence meant that there was bound to be some sort of crime soon!

Heiji nudged Conan and pointed at a man standing not too far from them. The man was tall, wearing a hat which covered his face, and carrying a large duffle bag. The man seemed to be waiting for someone but as soon as the man noticed that he was being watched, he quickly went towards the escalator that would take him back down to the Floating Garden Observatory.

The two high school detectives made up an excuse about having something in their eyes and followed the man. When they exited the escalator, Conan turned to look up at Heiji. "We should split up to look for him. We'll meet up by right here in ten minutes if we don't find him."

For some reason, Heiji had a bad feeling about his smaller counterpart's plan. "Kudo, I think we should stay together this time. I got a bad feelin' 'bout this."

Conan stared at the Osakan questioningly. "We'll find him quicker if we separate." He pointed out. Heiji had to admit, Kudo had a point. Besides, he couldn't afford to lose more time because something didn't feel right! Heiji nodded.

"Just be careful," he instructed as he headed off in the direction of the glass elevators.

Conan sighed. "Even Hattori is being weird today…" He made a beeline towards the restrooms. He figured that the suspicious man might be hiding in there since it was obvious that he hadn't accomplished whatever reason he had for being there. It costs 800 yen to enter the Umeda Sky Building so he couldn't be leaving. However, judging by the way the man was wearing his hat, he probably didn't want to stick out in anybody's mind. Going back down to ground level and then back up to the observatory would make him more suspicious. Since the man knew that he was being chased by the two detectives, he would want to hide out in a place where he couldn't be seen. Thus, the reason why Conan was currently heading to the bathroom.

Conan entered the restroom and saw that it was surprisingly empty. "Was my deduction wrong? Did I miss something?" He was so busy thinking over where his deductive reasoning might have gone wrong that he didn't notice the door opening right behind him. A piece of cloth was pressed against his mouth and nose. "Chloroform!? Why didn't I see…" Conan's thought trailed off as the small boy lost consciousness.

Twenty minutes later, Heiji was pacing next the escalator as Ran and Kazuha came down. "Where's Conan?" Ran asked casually. Heiji looked at her, obviously panicked.

"He went to the bathroom. I'll go 'head and get him!" Heiji rushed towards the restroom, praying that the shrunken detective would somehow be there. He was discouraged when the bathroom was completely empty. Right as he was leaving, he noticed a familiar pair of glasses laying on the ground next to one of the stalls. He slowly picked it up, his eyes growing wide. "Damn it, Kudo! Ya just had to get kidnapped too!" When Heiji returned to the group, it was obvious that something was wrong.

"Where's Conan?" Ran asked again more slowly. Heiji handed Ran the glasses. As she held the plastic frames in her hand, her face became very pale. Then she collapsed onto the ground, holding the glasses to her chest as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"No! Shinichi! Please don't leave me again!" That was all Ran could think as Kazuha tried to comfort her.

That night, Ran locked herself in the room that the three Tokyoites were sharing at the Hattori residence. Kogoro had tried to cheer his daughter up but nothing he said got through to her. He ended up going to the police station to help with the investigation. Meanwhile, Heiji and Kazuha were waiting in the hallway, trying to convince Ran to let them in.

Ran ignored them. After all, they couldn't really help her feel better since they couldn't understand how painful this was for her. Not only did she lose Conan, but she had also lost Shinichi…and that was so much worse. She found herself drawn to Conan's backpack which contained a few notebooks that he had claimed was his homework. She pulled out the one that she was looking for and opened it.

She had thought that maybe reading his journal would help her to calm down but it only made it worse. She had been trying hard before to give Conan more freedom since she figured that it had been stifling to continually be treated like a kid…but that had only left him to be worried about her. It had also led him to being kidnapped. Ran cried as she realized that if she had kept a closer eye on Conan, than none of this would have happened! Shinichi would be right here beside her, safe and sound!

"Ran, let me in! Ku-Conan's tough! Just ya watch! He'll probably have that guy tied up by the time we find him!" Heiji's voice broke out.

"What are ya talkin' about, Heiji?" Ran heard Kazuha hiss. "Conan's a kid! He may be pretty smart and all but there's no way that he can catch a criminal on his own!" Ran ignored Kazuha as she realized something from Heiji's words.

Ran opened the door and looked at the two teens through puffy red eyes. Kazuha gave Ran a big hug, telling her that it was going to be okay. As much as Ran appreciated Kazuha's efforts, she was not the one that Ran really needed to talk to. When Kazuha finally released Ran, the Tokyo teenager looked at her Osakan counterpart. "Kazuha, I need to talk to Heiji for a moment. Is that okay?" Ran's voice was shaky and horse but the desperation was clear.

"Yeah. Go ahead. I'm gonna go home anyway." Before leaving, Kazuha handed Ran a charm. "It's an omamori…more specifically a kanai-anzen. It's meant to bring safety for one's family. I know that it's not much but…" Before Kazuha could find the right words, Ran had the charm held close to her chest, as if it was a priceless treasure.

"Thank you," Ran said through her newly-formed tears. Kazuha nodded, reassured Ran one last time, and left. As soon as Kazuha was gone, Ran looked at Heiji. She took a deep breath before starting. "I need you to find Shinichi."

Conan's eyes opened slowly. As much as his head hurt at the moment, he forced himself to look around and take in his surroundings. The room that he was in was dark and had a musty smell. The only light came from a single dim light bulb that hung from the center of the ceiling. The walls were cement and Conan noticed that he was laying on an old mattress. He guess that he was probably in a basement. He noticed that his shoes and watch were gone, leaving him pretty much defenseless. Even though he couldn't see in the corners of the room, he could hear faint whimpering and crying, signaling that the other kidnapped children were probably hiding in the different corners.

Before Conan could call out to them, the sound of a door unlocking broke through the quiet yet foreboding atmosphere followed by bright light streaming into the darkness. Once Conan's eyes adjusted, he noticed a tall silhouette in the doorway.

"I'm going to ask you kids again!" The man demanded. The kids seemed even more scared. "Which one of you is responsible for his death!" The children cried, frightened.

Conan didn't know what was going on but he knew an opportunity when he saw one. "If one of us confessed, would the others go free?" He asked. Despite the light that was flooding into the darkest corners of the room, the man couldn't see which of the kids had spoken up.

"Yeah. I'd probably just leave you all in the park but the one who was responsible for my brother's death would have to stay here with me."

Conan sighed, knowing what he had to do. He stood up and time seemed to go in slow motion as he looked the man in the eyes. "It was me," Conan tried his best to sound like a scared little kid. He figured that it wouldn't be believable otherwise. "Please let everyone go home! I'm the one you want!"

Heiji stared at Ran before laughing nervously. "What're ya talkin' about, Ran? Kudo's probably too busy with somethin' else to help us find Conan!"

Ran pulled Heiji into the room and closed the door before continuing. She didn't want to risk being overheard. "I know the truth, Heiji. I know that Conan's really Shinichi! Please! You have to find him!"

Heiji sighed. "Alright…Let's say that the kid is really Kudo. How would ya even know who he really was? Besides, how could a teenager turn into a kid? What you're suggestin' isn't really makin' sense."

"do you have proof" he asked."nope and forget that first find him" she replied.

Heiji put a shoulder on her arm and smiled encouragingly. "We'll find him! If I know Conan, he's probably already escaped and is heading for the nearest police station!"

As if on cue, Heiji cell rang. The Osakan picked it up. As he listened to what the person on the other end had to say, his grin grew. He finally hung up and turned back to Ran. "The kidnapped children were found unconscious in a nearby park! Let's go over there and get Conan!"

When Heiji and Ran got there, the children were being coddled by their parents. But no matter where they looked, there was no sign of Conan. Police officers were going around, asking the children questions. Ran and Heiji overheard one of the kids being questioned. The kid was a 9 year-old boy. Heiji recognized the kid as Ren Yukou

"I've been there the longest. It was really scary. Every day, the really tall man would yell at us, telling us to confess for killing his brother. He was really men too. Sometimes, if nobody would speak up, he would hit one of us. We were too scared to speak. But the new kid today was really brave. I honestly thought we were going to die but the new kid stood up and said that it was his fault. He said that so that the rest of us could go home." Ran grew pale, somehow knowing exactly who the kid was talking about.

"Do you remember the kid's name," the officer asked. The kid nodded.

"When the new kid confessed, the man asked for his name. It was kind of a weird name but I think it was Conan Edogawa."

When the man came back from taking the re-chloroformed children to who-knows-where, he glared at Conan as if he was nothing more than a disgusting rat.

"Do you remember playing by the convenience store?" Conan nodded, despite having no such recollection. If the man found out that he had been lying, there was no telling what he might do. "My brother, Daisuke, was playing with you when I was just picking some stuff up. You came up with the great idea to play in the middle of the street. You told the police that you didn't see the car coming but that was a lie!" The man's voice rose. "DAISUKE PUSHED YOU OUT OF THE WAY ONLY TO GET HIT HIMSELF! THAT WAS YOUR PLAN THE ENTIRE TIME, WASN'T IT!?"

This wasn't good. The man was only making himself more and more angry. Conan looked at the man with the calm eyes of an experienced detective. The man noticed this look and calmed down a little, though he didn't know why. However, his thoughts were still in an angry frenzy.

"Now you're going to suffer just like my brother did as he clung onto what was left of his life."

Heiji and Kogoro escorted Ran back to the Hattori home. Ran was completely silent the entire way there. She couldn't even cry. She went straight for the guest room and locked herself back inside.

Ran leaned against the door, slowly sliding down it frame, unable to keep herself up. When she was sitting on the ground, she wrapped her arms around her knees and cried. "Why Shinichi! You're always doing something so stupid and reckless! Don't you even care that I may never get to see you again!?" She subconsciously glanced up and noticed Conan's glasses sitting on the nightstand. There was something about those glasses that gave Ran a little bit of hope. She stood up and went to grab the glasses. She hugged the glasses close to her heart, accidentally hitting a button on the plastic frame.

Ran was surprised to see the left glass turn blue, almost like some sort of radar. What was really strange was that there was a single red dot flashing. Ran put the glasses on and realized that the dot was coming from somewhere not to far.

Ran knew without a doubt that the dot was signaling where Shinichi was. The teenage girl rushed out of the room and past a very confused Kogoro and Heiji.

"Hey," Heiji called as he ran to keep up. "Where are ya goin'?" Ran didn't even break stride as she continued to run in the direction that the glasses told her.

"I'm going to save that reckless detective geek!"

The man was coming after Conan with a baseball bat. Even though he didn't stand a chance against the man without his gadgets, Conan kept dodging each blow. Of course, the man did graze him a few times, making it harder for the pint-sized detective to keep dodging.

Conan was back into one of the room's corners with nowhere else to run. The man raised the bat over his head for a fatal blow. Conan saw that the man had left his guard down. He jumped as hard as he could and head butted the guy in the stomach. The man doubled over, clutching where Conan had hit him. Meanwhile, the shrunken detective had opened the door and ran out of the room.

He realized that he was in a Western-style house. Conan could hear the man yelling after him as he gave chase. He looked around for a place to hide or a way out. It didn't help that he didn't know the layout of the house since he had been unconscious when he was brought there and was locked in the basement the rest of the time.

He turned the corner of the hall and saw a big red door. Hoping that it was the front entrance, he made a beeline for it. However, he quickly discovered that the door was locked and that he was too small to reach the door knob. He could hear the man's footsteps getting closer.

The man paused before jumping from the corner. He was sure that the little brat had been heading in this direction yet the kid was nowhere to be found. "Did that boy already go outside? I won't let him get away!" The kidnapper rushed to the door only to be startled by the doorbell ringing. "Now he's trying to scare me into putting the bat away!" He grinned wickedly as he unlocked the door and swung it open.

The man froze. Standing on his front step was a teenage girl. Realizing that he was still holding the bat, he set it down on the wall beside him. "Sorry about that. There have been some recent robberies in the area and I was afraid that you might be a robber."

"It's alright," the girl replied. Then she looked at the man right in the eyes. "I'm looking for a small boy who's been missing since yesterday. Do you know where he is?" The man went very pale. Before he could deny know anything, something small ran past his legs.

"Why you little brat!" The man yelled at Conan, forgetting about the girl who was watching, her face now the spitting image of a demon's. The next thing he knew, he was lying flat on the ground, unable to move.

Ran exhaled as she looked at Conan. He was covered in bruises and scrapes. She noticed that he was limping as well. Still, the boy smiled as if he hadn't gone through a traumatic experience. Ran couldn't hold herself back as she broke out into tears, pulling the small boy into a tight hug.

"Ran-neechan, it's okay," Conan started to say. Ran slap him and continued to hold him.

"It's not okay! I was so scared! I was afraid that you would never come back!" Ran pulled herself away a little to look into Conan's eyes. "Promise me that you'll never leave me again!"

"But Ran-nee-"

"Just promise me. Please?"

Conan sighed. "I promise," he said quietly.

 _Entry #16_

 _I'm not really sure how to begin this entry. I just got kidnapped, beaten ,rescued , got slapped by Ran and hugged all in one day. To say that I'm exhausted is an understatement. Ran is probably just as tired as me. When Hattori saw me, he pulled me aside to scold me for making Ran worry so much. It's not like I asked to be kidnapped!_

 _Ran made me promise not to leave her. Even as I promised her, I couldn't help but feel guilty. I know that she was talking to Conan, not Shinichi, but I couldn't help but feel a huge sting in my heart. It was as if she were trying to convince herself that if she made Conan promise, then Shinichi would be doing the same thing. The worst part was that she'd be right. I know that Ran is everything to me and I don't want to see her get hurt._

 _Ran, I promise you that I won't leave you…no matter what form I take._

 _Another day has passed and I am still a child. The shoulders of black still do not appear and with it the possibility that I can recover my age becomes more distant. I have solved so many crimes including some that were considered perfect but not the one that is most important to me._

 _Being a child again is not what bothers me the most, it's Ran, it's not exactly her, it's what she represents. There is nothing that I would like more than to spend my whole life by her side, wake up by her side, watch his family grow together, their children, our children, but that is impossible for Conan. He is a boy and Ran a woman. I could not be with her without being frowned upon and revealing my identity would only be risking the lives of innocents. In addition there is another obstacle, ironically I am myself. Ran keeps waiting for me, although she does not say it I see it in her eyes, she feels the same as me._

 _I'm glad to know that Ran has not forgotten me. It gives me hope to continue this fight even though everything is lost every time, it is the anchor that keeps me tied to my other life, which reminds me that Shinichi Kudo could not disappear. But it also hurts me because her pain is mine. She is strong, Ran tries to hide from me that my absence hurts but she cannot deceive me, we have been friends for many years, I know her well, I can see through her lies._

 _I'm afraid she'll get tired of waiting and give herself a chance with someone else. If I'm not the one who takes her to an altar and kisses those lips with which I dream every night but more than I come to hate me, it's a feeling I do not want to deal with. But there are times when I want it to happen. Not because I have stopped loving her but because of everything else, I want her to be happy even if she is not by my side._

 _How many times have I wanted to talk but have had to be silent? How many times have you been about to catch me but I managed to sneak away? There have been so many that I lost the account. Several times my will has flanked but I know it is the right thing to do. There is so much at risk and I cannot allow Ran or my loved ones to be hurt by my recklessness._

 _But every day my defenses are exhausted and I fear to commit an imprudence for my weakness. My patience is exhausted and my desire to be at her side is out of control. I would like to put aside and dare to shout that I am Shinichi and that I love her but I fear what may happen when she knows the truth, that she hates me for having lied to me for so long in spite of my reasons, for having made her wait or that, even if she understands my motives hit me because of the times we share the bathroom, it may be small but its strength is not. We have been friends for so long that I could not bear the contempt in her eyes or the indifference in her face._

 _It's really frustrating, case after case, it seems to never end. It's not that I hate being a detective, in fact I love , tying up loose ends, discovering the truth and doing justice, also the feeling of triumph when knowing the truth, a small part of me enjoys these triumphs, I could not deny it . But I want everything to be the same as before, solve mysteries like Shinichi and not have to look for someone to solve a case, it is frustrating as what children say is ignored only by age._

 _The red thread of destiny. He asked me how real it will be. If it will apply in my relationship with Ran, if she will be my destiny and at some point we will finally be able to be together even if everything seems to be against us. I am Shinichi Kudo, world famous detective, I have solved more difficult cases. It does not matter how long it takes me. Because I promised to return for her that day I was close to asking her for marriage, one of the brief moments when I was Shinichi again. Although everything is against me and everything is lost I cannot give up. I cannot and I do not want to give up my real self or Ran._

 _But in the meantime, I will continue at your side but so far away at the same time. Frightening his suitors and looking for a way to be by her side. To let her know that I have never forgotten her and that I never will because my heart belongs to her, it beat only for her. As long as my heart beat I will love her and I will make our destinies cross again but this time not to separate, meanwhile I will be by your side but so far at the same time._

The next day ,

After reading next page of his journal ,Ran decided that she should tell Shinichi about his truth that she knew he is Conan otherwise his guilt will never let him overcome and he could not live happily with her. The promise he made he wouldn't keep.

She was in her deep thought how would she do it then a voice broke her thoughts " _Ran-neechan, are you okay?"._

Conan noticed that Ran has been acting weird lately. Of course he noticed these _subtle_ (—yeah right) changes on her expressions because _push, it's not like he knew her for around 13 years, eh?_

 _Well, that was Shinichi but whatever. His body's the only thing that has changed, not the mind._

Anyway, there were times that Ran's face would look troubled—like she was thinking about something deeply _and it eerily reminded him of his thinking face_.

 _(Nope, he wasn't entranced at the sight at all, nope. Really._

 _And he definitely didn't take a picture. Totally. Nope.)_

Also, there were times that she has this very determined look in the face which he normally saw whenever Ran's fighting with karate. But then it immediately deflates into a defeated stance which ends up with a heavy sigh. It happens multiple times a day but Conan just dismissed it as something related to schoolwork or karate. Finals has just finished anyway.

Or maybe it was about her drunkard of a father— although Ran can totally deal with the lazy bum with her fists.

Conan just hoped that Ran will return to her old self soon.

But then days turned into weeks and he noticed that Ran was still the same— the frowns were getting deeper, the knots in between her brows were getting evident and her eyes were still somber, losing its usual spark as she talks with other people.

And then Conan finally decided that he's had enough.

He has to know why Ran was acting differently.

.

 _Actually_ , he might know the reason because he saw Ran clutching her cellphone tightly above her chest during these days.

' _Of course, it's about Shinichi. But it's not like we're not talking over the phone… Gah, I better fix this. I'm going to snoop around a bit as Conan first before calling her as Shinichi. She's better off smiling, anyways…'_

"Ran-neechan, are you okay?"

"Eh Conan-kun? I'm feeling alright, why did you ask?"

"You've been smiling less and less recently…" Conan frowned. "And it has been bothering me because Ran-neechan is always smiling…"

Ran's eyes were wide with the boy's observation. "Conan-kun…"

"Is it because of Shinichi-niichan? Is he being stupid again?"

Ran laughed at the boy's 'stupid' comment.

"Oh Conan-kun, you're so sweet! But you don't have to worry about Ran-neechan. Also about Shinichi, you know how crazy he is about cases so he'll come around whenever he has the time. Stupid, mystery freak."

' _Well, sorry about that...'_

"Have I ever told you about Shinichi's obsession with Sherlock Holmes?"

Conan looked startled at her presence, but he quickly recovered. He replied, "I think you've mentioned it a many times."

"But I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I respected Holmes," Ran said.

The startled look came back. Conan asked, "Really? I thought you didn't like Holmes."

"It was Shinichi's constant need to relate everything to Holmes that I found annoying. Not the character itself," Ran said. "Personally, I thought Holmes was an amazing man and detective. He reminded me of Shinichi though I suppose it should be the other way around. Not that I could ever tell him that! He'd probably just make some comment about me being his Watson. People have been making that stupid joke since I was eight."

"Not in a good way, I'm guessing." Conan sounded casual but there was a hard edge to his tone.

Ran shrugged. "I've always been teased for being friends with Shinichi. At first it was because I dared to be friends with a boy. Then after Shinichi got his reputation as the neighborhood detective, everyone talked about him as the brilliant investigator and I was the dumb sidekick who was always tagging along. Then someone decided that if you were Holmes then I must be Watson."

"Watson wasn't a stupid man," Conan said quietly. "He was Holmes's best friend and companion whose presence and insights helped Holmes achieve his success. If people really understood that, they wouldn't act like being called a Watson was some kind of insult."

Ran blinked at the outburst. Then she smiled and said, "I know now that Watson was a smart and humble man and if he seemed slow compared to a genius like Holmes... who wouldn't? And I know that Holmes valued and respected Watson very much, but I have to wonder if he didn't also underestimate him."

"What do you mean?"

Ran reached out to the shelf and pulled out a copy of The Return of Sherlock Holmes. She then said, "Holmes was always tricking and keeping secrets from Watson. He even let the poor man believe he was dead for three years. I know he did it to protect his friend. I can understand that, and I'm sure Watson did too, but I can't help but think that it must have been very painful for him to be thought of someone who needed to be protected."

"Because he was a war veteran?"

She idly started flipping through the book in her hands. "Partly because of that, but mostly because as someone who had faced numerous dangers over the years at his friend's side, he had never thought of himself as a liability."

"Have you ever considered how Holmes felt about having to lie to his friend?" Conan asked.

Ran set the book down on a table before she crouched down so that she was eye level with Conan. She asked, "How do you think he felt?"

"I think... he knew what he did was bad. That it was a horrible thing to do. Maybe it was even the wrong thing to do... but there was nothing he could do about that. He had made a decision and it was too late to change it. He had to see it through. To do otherwise would have meant that all the pain and suffering he caused his friend to have was for nothing. But that doesn't take away the guilt. That book you're holding says that Holmes was tempted several times to write to Watson and tell him he was alive, but he always resists because..."

"Because?" Ran prompted.

Conan looked up at her with an unreadable look in his eyes. He said, "How could he tell his friend that he was being hunted by an international crime syndicate? Isn't it cruel to tell him when there's nothing he can do to help? And Watson was happy. Even though he missed Holmes, he was still able to make friends and go about his life. He was able to sleep soundly through the night. Should Holmes have taken that happiness away just so he wouldn't have to feel guilty?"

Ran was about to ask how Holmes would know whether Watson slept soundly or not until she realized that Conan was no longer just talking about a fictional character. He was talking about her. It was true that while she worried about Shinichi and occasionally had paranoid suspicions that he was masquerading as Conan, she didn't spend every waking moment thinking about him. She could laugh with Sonoko, spend time with her parents, and even have a good night's sleep without wondering if Shinichi was in mortal danger. Because most detective work happened after the danger had already passed or in the presence of dozens of law enforcement people.

She had worried about whether Shinichi was staying healthy or if he was seeing other women. She worried about whether he would ever come back or if he would do something reckless and stupid during the course of the investigation that would get him hurt. She had rarely wondered if he would be gunned down by a mad criminal. After all, it was highly unlikely that the people he was after had a personal vendetta against him. As far as she knew, all the criminals he had put behind bars were still there. To anyone else, Shinichi would just be some hotshot teen detective who couldn't be much of a threat if he still couldn't catch them after all this time.

So aside from occasional irrational fears, Ran hadn't worried too much about the possibility of Shinichi coming home in a body bag. But now she would. Especially now that she knew that Shinichi was a little boy who had far less strength than he used to.

That made her wonder how she would have reacted if she had known from the beginning who Conan really was. Would she have tried to lock Conan up for his own safety? Tried to convince him to not go after the bad guys alone? She knew herself well enough to recognize that her first instincts would have been to protect Shinichi from any and all dangers. If they hadn't been able to work that conflict out, then he might have driven away to go live with Professor Agasa or his parents, and she would have never known the joy of living with Conan that she had now.

On the other hand, her instincts to save Conan from what she perceived to be his childish recklessness had almost certainly interfered with a few of his investigations and possibly endangered both of their lives and the lives of others. By this point in time Conan had more than proven his ability to handle danger, but Ran didn't like the idea of a child being in danger in the first place. That had led to many instances of Conan having to evade her grasp while he tried to solve murder mysteries.

If she had known that this innocent little boy had the tools, friends, and the adult mind to keep himself safe then Ran would have been more lenient because Shinichi would have proven that losing ten years hadn't affected his ability to face criminals. There was a certain irony to the situation. Shinichi might have been disadvantaged by her knowing the truth from the start, but he was presently disadvantaged by her not knowing the truth now.

"Maybe..." Ran began slowly. "There was some justification at first for Holmes to not tell Watson that he wasn't dead. He didn't know who was watching and he needed Watson to convincingly portray a man in mourning. The situation Holmes was in was an exceptional one so he was probably making up what to do as he went along. He deserved some leeway for that. But there is a certain point when an emergency stops being a justification and starts being an excuse to not do the hard thing.

"You think it would be cruel to let someone agonize over something they can't change. That it's more important for them to be happy. Do you think that Watson was happy knowing that his friend sacrificed his own happiness for his? Is it a fair exchange to have peace of mind at someone else's expense?"

"It's not a just a matter of happiness. It's also about safety!" Conan protested.

"Safety always comes at a price," Ran said softly. "What will one give up for it? Is the desire for it based on real probabilities of danger or from fear and uncertainty? I also think the person whose safety is in question should have some say in the matter. If someone was out there sacrificing himself on my behalf, I'd like to know who it was. Because in a way I would be responsible for the choices they make."

"It's not like Holmes would have never told Watson the truth!" Conan said. "He just wanted to wait until he had captured all of Moriarty's gang. After that... he was willing to face the consequences of his actions."

"Did he know Watson was going to forgive him? He sure acted like it," Ran said.

Conan gave her a sad smile. "There are times when even I don't understand Sherlock Holmes. There are some acts that one can't expect to simply be forgiven for."

"But Watson did forgive him," Ran reminded him. "Because real friends don't throw away everything they've been through together. Watson understood that Holmes was human, and that he was just worried about him. His actions may have been wrong, but his heart was in the right place. That's why he could forgive the lies and the deception."

Ran reached out and gently cupped Conan's chin so she could look directly into his eyes. She said, "And that's why I can forgive ... Shinichi."

Conan's eyes widened and he looked like he was about to say something, but Ran silenced him with a finger over his lips. She said, "I will not ask him to confirm or deny anything. I'm just going tell him that I know."

"But Ran-neechan you are not ….." Conan with hesitation said. Ran asked " you are not , what Conan-kun". With blush on his face Conan said " you are not Shinichi-niichan's Watson , you are his Irene Adler . You should not easily forgive him. But please never hate him because he could withstand anything but not your hateness "

Listening to that Ran hugged Conan and said " Conan you are really so cute , thank you for telling that I will sure take my revenge when he will return for good and I assure you that I could never hate him even if I wanted because I know him , he will never do this until he has motive."

"Hmm and now maybe I'll call him right now just to check up on him. Great idea, right?" Ran winked and fished her phone out of her pocket.

Conan was suddenly in panic and tried to get away from Ran as soon as possible so that he could take her call.

' _OF ALL THE TIMES—'_

"A-Ah Ran-neechan!" Conan's voice reached an octave higher because of nervousness. "Actually, I need to—"

"Ah don't worry, I know. You forgot something at Agasa-hakase's house, right? It's alright. Just come home before dinner, okay?"

"O-okay…?"

"You must be wondering how I figured it out. Geez, it's written all over your face. Also whenever I call Shinichi, you're being like this so I got used to it! I mean you want to give me privacy"

"A-Ah, is that so?"

"Yes. So take care, Conan-kun! I'll go call Shinichi now, okay? Say hi to Agasa-hakase for me."

"Okay, Ran-neechan! Also tell Shinichi-niichan that he should stop worrying you so much! A-And sorry I wasn't able to make you happy again since _I am not Shinichi-niichan_ but I think this will do for now!" Conan motioned Ran to kneel so that she would level with him. And then in a moment, Ran felt something wet and warm on her left cheek. She blinked, as if discerning whether it really happened or not but as she was about to ask, Conan was nowhere to be seen. The only evidence of his escape was the shutting sound of the Agency's door.

"D-Did he just..."

Ran blushed and then sighed.

"This is going to be hard…"

She dialed Shinichi's phone number.

' _Sorry, but I need to do this…'_

Conan lied.

He did not go to Hakase's house. He was just leaning against the wall beside the door of the Detective Agency, because sometimes, the best way to hide is to be close to the seeker.

Setting that aside, he was really, really red in the face.

' _I-I-I really did that… but if that gives her a little bit of comfort then it's fine…'_

He prepared his voice-changing bowtie to imitate Shinichi's voice.

' _Her cheeks were so soft though…'_

His Shinichi phone vibrated in his pocket.

' _But what is this weird feeling I'm having…'_

.

.

.

"Hey Ran."

"…"

"Ran?"

"…"

"Oooooooi"

"I know where you are."

"Oi Raaan—Eh?"

"I said I know where you are."

"W-What?"

"Baka, are you deaf now?"

"Baro! It's just you're calling me and then you're suddenly like that… it kinda sounded creepy, you know?"

"Ah, is that so?"

"A-Ah maybe it's because of those weird moods? Conan-kun told me about what's happening to you the last time he called and asked me to help because he's worried about you… I was about to call you after I finish part of the case I'm working on."

"Ah, of course he will tell you, eh?"

' _S-Shit, is she..?'_

"Y-You know that kid. He's attached to you."

' _Why am I even stuttering?'_

"Yeah, he even kissed me before I made this phone call to cheer me up."

Shinichi choked on his spit.

"Kah—Is that so?"

"Ara, you didn't know? I thought since Conan-kun did it, you'll immediately know what happened."

' _What?'_

"He didn't. It happened immediately before you called, right? So there was no time for him to call me at all. And it's not like we have some sort of telepathy thing going on. It's ridiculous, Ran."

"Ah, I see. _Of course, telepathy is impossible._ But aren't you jealous at all?"

' _Of course not, he's me—'_

"Why? He's just a kid."

"Ooooh, I wonder. Sometimes I think that Conan-kun will be a better choice in the future. I would like to marry him because he is very much like~"

' _Oi, oi.'_

"Ran, please save yourself from being a pedo—"

"DON'T you even finish that sentence or else – and yep, you're definitely jealous."

"Raaaaan!"

Shinichi could basically _hear_ her smirk. He wondered where Ran's boldness was coming from.

' _Now she sounds like she's not having problems but of course, I know better than that.'_

"A-Anyway Ran, why did you call me?"

"I thought I told you already. I am saying that know where you are."

"Hmmm and where is that, Miss Detective?"

"Ara, I thought you already knew."

"Of course, baro. In a case far, far away, Mouri-san."

"I'm starting to doubt your deduction skills again, Kudo-kun."

"Oi! Wait, again—!?"

"London, idiot." Both blushed but Ran coughed and returned to the topic, "Anyway, do you want to hear my deductions about your whereabouts?"

Conan, still beside the Agency's door, is now sweating profusely.

' _As I've thought, I'm having a really bad feeling about this phone call.'_

"You still need to officially confirm my deductions about what's in your heart, Mouri-san." Shinichi was obviously stalling because he already knew about her feelings since forever.

"This phone call is not about that!"

Shinichi snickered while picturing Ran shouting on her phone, red in the face. He could hear her whisper something about _'tell you next time', 'can't he just say it'_ and _'stupid detective freak'._

In any case, he should probably change his location before Ran suddenly finds him there and not on Agasa-hakase's house. So Conan took one step away from the door then—

"Don't you dare go away, Shinichi."

' _How did she even-?!'_

"W-whatever are you saying, Ran? I'm not even moving from my spot. So let's hear it then, your deduction."

"Uh uh. I just felt that you were about to leave from your spot." Shinichi sweat dropped. "About your location, actually, I'll just go straight to the point."

' _Okay Kudo, maybe Ran's just playing a prank on you. You don't really have any evidence that she's been suspecting you again. You haven't felt that penetrating gaze whenever she suspects you. So calm down and don't be an idiot. This is Ran, you should be able—no, NEED to protect your identity to keep her safe._

 _Even if it hurts so much…'_

Shinichi took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Alright."

"Right so I'm starting with this: I'm sure that you've been around my presence recently."

' _Haha is this even a direct approach?'_

"Oi, oi don't tell me you've decided that I became a ghost…"

"Stupid. Don't even joke about that. I meant that you've been physically around me for the past 24 hours."

"Sorry, sorry. But if I was just around, I should have talked to you, right?"

"Oh, but you did!"

"I… do not recall such conversation. I swear if Kaitou KID is masquerading as me again I'll—"

"Bzzzt. Maybe you forgot. Do you want me to refresh your memory?"

"Please do, Ran."

Ran cleared her throat.

"I do recall that someone was trying to cheer me up because they felt that I was not feeling okay. I told them I was alright because I don't really want to worry them… but it was a lie. I have been holding back for the past year. Every time I get a lead, it vanishes and then I'm back to square one again."

' _Holy shit. Ran is getting scarily on point right now…and I do not like where this is heading.'_

"Ran…"

"So for the past weeks, I've done a lot of thinking you see? I thought maybe I was approaching this dilemma of mine the wrong way. Having you as a best friend ever since we were four really helped me. All of your ramblings about Holmes got stuck into my head and I just applied it into what I was thinking about. _Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth._ Right, Shinichi and your statements have confirmed them?"

Shinichi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

' _So Ran really…'_

"Right. So Ran, what did you find out?"

Shinichi heard Ran sniff and he knew that she was about to cry.

' _Oh no…'_

"I-I… Shinichi…"

"Yes, Ran?"

"You claim that you have been away on a case making you unable to see me regularly, right?"

' _It's a case but…'_

"Yes."

"Then…" A single sob was heard from Ran's end, "Why are you lying to me?

"R-Ran…?"

"I'm sure that you're really working on a case but…"

"I-I—"

"But the truth is… you never left me alone, right?"

' _Ah.'_

"Ran…"

"That you were always beside me. That whatever case you've been working on is so troublesome because you have become helpless. You needed to accept help from people around you. You had to control yourself from being on the limelight because it was dangerous. You had to pretend a lot. That wasn't the usual you but for some reason, you threw away the glory and fame and became somebody else."

"That and according to Hattori-kun way, way back, you always knew how I was feeling during our phone calls. Sure, you might be able to detect my feelings through my voice but I always had a feeling that you also knew what I was doing off the phone."

There was a pregnant pause after Ran's statement, save for her sobs which she tried to suppress.

"Of course, Ran. I am a detective so I'll know. Especially if it's about you…"

"Even the greatest detective can't know everything, right? The timing of your phone calls always, always have the right timing. Whenever I feel bad or something, my phone suddenly rings. And you _always know—"_

"Evidence."

"Eh?"

"Ran, the most important thing to have to prove your deduction…" Shinichi gulped, praying to the heavens that this day won't get any worse. "…what's your evidence?"

At this, Conan was baffled when Ran choked a laugh.

"Did you really think I was deaf not to hear your voice behind that door?

' _Well.'_

"Also, please check your voice."

' _Well,. I didn't notice that I dropped the damn voice-changing bowtie!'_

"Oh yeah one more thing, I think I forgot to tell Conan-kun that we now have a CCTV camera near the door."

' _Triple kill…'_

Ran's giggles were heard while Conan was groaning over the phone in his failure to keep his identity hidden from the one and only person he can't risk knowing.

 _Ran knows, she knows and she got me cornered I have no way out shit she's gonna open the door HOLY SHIT THE KNOB'S TURNING I CAN'T MOVE FROM MY SPOT—'_

Ran opened the door and smiled down at _Conan-kun._

"You know, Conan-kun's kiss was really cute."

Conan thought that she was saying that to Conan but she was still talking on the phone. _To Shinichi._

"…"

"So did you like it? I think I did."

Conan was trembling under Ran's kind gaze.

' _Wait— Kind… gaze?'_

"Ara, Conan-kun. You're here early. Come in?"

' _What?'_

"Conan-kun?"

' _Why is she acting like she did not just expose my well-hidden secret!?'_

"R-Ran…?"

"That's Ran-neechan for you, did you forget something Conan-kun?" Ran wagged a warning finger in front of Conan's face, "So did you get what you forgot?"

' _Was it a dream?'_

"A-Ah! Yes Ran-neechan! I decided that I'll just go to Hakase's house next time."

"I see."

Conan shifted nervously on his feet under the merciful stare of his childhood friend slash sweetheart.

' _Ran… she's…'_

Ran pushed the 'End Call' button and placed her phone inside her pants pocket.

"...Ran-neechan, did Shinichi-niichan made you cry?"

The girl hastily wiped her eyes with her sleeve and laughed softly into her hand.

"Ah, I think he did. Or not. I don't know. What do you think, Conan-kun?"

"I think… he's just being an idiot. Isn't he?"

"I think so, too! But it's fine since we're both being idiots now, ne?"

' _So this is her decision…'_

"But despite that, Shinichi-niichan's still the one who can make you smile the most, right?"

Ran did not miss the implication of the shrunken detective's statement.

' _I can never make you happy in this form, right?'_

She smiled and took Conan's hand.

"Do you want to go upstairs and help me with dinner? Otou-san will not be coming home because he's playing Mahjong again with the neighbors. Is curry alright? Ah also, I made some lemon pie for you earlier!"

Conan stared. He didn't really understand why Ran's being like this—ignoring the fact that she could actually confront him now and maul him into the streets and leave him to suffer there because of his lies.

She has the right. He preferred staying away from her than leading her into a definite death trap. It was enough that he was suffering alone in exchange for her safety so he lied continuously.

But today, Ran sealed the longest case that she has been on.

The case of the missing detective, Kudo Shinichi.

"Okay, Ran-neechan. That would be nice, thank you." The boy whispered.

Ran squeezed Conan's hand in acknowledgement.

"But don't forget to pick up your bowtie from the floor, alright?"

Conan did not miss the gleam on Ran's eyes and almost dropped to the floor _._

"Don't worry, I also deleted the footage."

Ran winked at Conan.

' _Yep. I was definitely exposed.'_

After the _weird_ confrontation— or confirmation rather— the two acted normally during dinner.

And the normalcy was freaking Conan out.

Ran was still serving him with a kind smile and wipes his face whenever something would get stuck on his face. It made Conan extra nervous because he doesn't have an idea on what Ran was thinking so he decided to help her prepare the food and wash the dishes afterwards to try calm her wrath even for a little bit.

Now they were just on Ran's room, sitting on her bed. The girl decided to invite Conan into her room because she wanted to _talk_ more with him.

Usually, it would make Conan happily flustered but considering the events that have transpired hours ago, he was... scared.

Also it didn't help that he noticed some broken mechanical pencils in her trash bin.

' _I wonder if I'm going to go after those..._ ' He gulped nervously as he averted his gaze from the trash bin. _'I'm sure that the Black Organization cannot take me down but Ran definitely CAN. SEE, SHE ALREADY LOCKED THE DOOR.'_

So to finish this once and for all, they need to have this talk right now.

"R-Ran-nee—"

"Conan-kun can make me happy in ways Shinichi can't so don't worry about not making me happy, ne?"

Conan was startled at the sudden statement.

"Conan-kun makes me very, very happy. Shinichi and Conan-kun makes me very happy."

"R-Ran..."

"So Conan-kun... please tell Shinichi that my decision has not changed. I will always wait for that idiot. No matter how long it will take... as long as he comes back to me."

"Ran—" The girl sealed the young boy's lips with her finger.

"Just promise me that you'll always be okay." At this, Ran's tears finally fell, her facade finally breaking. "I can't help it. You already know about my feelings and I can't help but worry about the most important person in the whole world for me. I-I'll do my best too so you should too, ne?" She removed the finger from his lips and smiled at Conan— Shinichi.

Conan's glasses gleamed. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh of resignation. Tossing his eyeglasses on the bed, he looked up at the beautiful angel in front of him and smiled sadly.

"Thank you, Ran. And I'm sorry. Really, really sorry." Ran almost missed his soft voice— which is strikingly similar to the Shinichi that she knew— but the softening of her gaze implies that she got the message. "And... didn't I already promise that I will come back to you no matter what? So you don't have to worry."

Shinichi wasn't prepared to be tackled by an emotional Ran into the bed.

"Shinichi..." She sobbed. "Stupid. Shinichi— stupid mystery otaku!" She repeated the words over and over and Shinichi had no choice but to tightly grip the crying woman.

"Come on, stop crying. Also please stop crushing me..."

"Oh sorry!"

"Ah, I was kinda expecting a swat on the head because of my statement's implication..."

Ran was red in the face.

"Ara, do you want me to?"

Flat stare.

"No, thank you."

Silence.

"So you're not trying to do some trick to fool me again, eh?"

"Sorry..."

"No, no. That was a genuine question."

" this time I followed my heart not mind."

"followed heart , what do you mean".

" If I had follow my mind I should have used tranquilizer on you and made you think it was dream but…..I guess this was what I've wanted since the beginning. Since nobody's able to interfere during that moment _unlike the other times_ , I just... let it happen." Shinichi clutched the blanket tightly. "Believe me when I say that you were the first one that I wanted to talk to but when I told the situation to police on the first day they didn't believe and was sending me to mental hospital and then Agasa-hakase made me realize that I can't because it's too dangerous and you're too important to me and I love you so much I can't risk anything to risk your safety—"

"Shinichi. What do you mean by tranquilized but never mind."

"I really, really wanted to tell you because it was so hard pretending in front of you and I never kept secrets from you and you are my best friend and you are _my Ran_ —"

"Shinichi!"

"Sorry..."

Ran stroked Shinichi's hair, treading into the strands carefully to soothe the frustrated detective.

"No, no, don't apologize. Even you tranquilized me you wouldn't clear my doubt, I already know your identity because I've thought about this over and over, on why you were doing this, and I figured out that whenever you hide things from me, it was to protect me from harm. I understand. That's really touching of you but..." Ran's hand fell from his head to his cheek and stroked it lightly. "I think you need to trust me more."

"No Ran— I trust you!"

"I know you trust me but you need to trust on my survival—"

"I just don't trust myself!"

Ran's eyes widened at Shinichi's outburst.

"I-I don't trust myself to stop being comfortable around you and not let my guard down! If I slip even for a little bit, everyone around me will definitely die! Especially you, Ran. I don't want that!" Shinichi was gripping his hair and his breaths were becoming ragged. "I...I needed to be _away_ and be Conan-kun, the cute little brother who freeloads in the Mouri household, to separate Kudo Shinichi from the world and his loved ones!—"

"—Shinichi! Shinichi!" Ran shook the panicking boy in her arms. It proved to be not effective so she took the shrunken high school detective in an embrace to soothe him. "Shhh. Shhh. You don't need to say anymore, I understand. I told you I understand. Please. Conan-kun, Shinichi, please come back to me, it's alright."

This was the first time that she saw Shinichi with a panicked expression. She never thought that the day when she's able to witness Shinichi's vulnerable moment would come. She never thought that her childhood friend would break down like this. Was he really that scared for her? He was always protecting her in the shadows and she didn't even know. She choked a sob while she tightened her grip to Shinichi.

' _Now that I know, I swear I'm going to protect him in ways that only I could.'_

Ran tried to give a small laugh, but her heart simply wasn't in it. She said, "But you know what? I don't care about any of that. I thought I did at first. I thought that I would do everything possible to find out why. Why my best friend would hurt me like this. Why he would deceive and manipulate me and my dad while living with us under our noses. Oh, Shinichi, I was so angry at you. But... these last few weeks have given me a better idea of what you're going through. It doesn't change everything, but...

"It may seem hypocritical of me to say this, but I don't want to make things more difficult for you. There was only one mystery I really wanted to solve, and that was because it was driving me crazy! To be honest, I think it would be better for both you and me if you would let me in, but I'm not going to force you to tell me what's going on. There is one thing I can do for you though. I can stop you from wasting your time and energy trying to convince me of something we both know is a lie.

"And that's why I decided to tell you what I was doing instead of just pretending that I had never discovered anything at all. Because no matter how you've changed, there's one thing that hasn't. You're still a detective, and you would never hide or wanted to be shielded from the truth. No matter how much it hurt."

"There is only one truth. It is neither kind nor unkind. It simply is," Conan said, sounding very tired and bitter. "And the truth is that when it comes to upholding the values of honesty and decency, you've been a far better person than me."

Only the sounds of Shinichi's heavy breathing were heard in the room for a few minutes. It faded into a sigh as he burrowed his head deep into Ran's neck, seeking comfort in his love's arms.

"...Ran?"

"Yes, Shinichi?"

"What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Ran just smiled into Shinichi's hair. "Nothing. I just love you too much."

"I love you, too. Both of us. Conan and Shinichi both love you."

"Thank you."

"No, Ran. _Thank you._ "

Both smiled as they enjoyed the moment in each other's arms. After they've had enough, Ran broke the embrace.

"Now _Conan-kun_ , since you are a growing boy, you need to sleep now! So off to bed, _chiisana tantei-kun_!"

"Oh goodness, now she's teasing me..."

"What's that _Conan-kun_?" Ran's smile was menacing that Shinichi sweat dropped in fear.

"N-Nothing, Ran-neechan! I guess you're right!"

"how did you find out and what do you mean by my statements confirmed your doubts" asked Conan.

"I always have doubt why Conan act like Shinichi but when I try to remember whenever I have doubt you ask for evidence but when I started thinking I struck with the points that I didn't need evidence only thinking was require evidence you had already given. The thing left for me was to think carefully when I did I remember except one time Conan and shinichi never were infront of each other. When Shinichi meet or call me Conan disappear, and when I told you I will not leave your hand after fainting I remember I was so determined not to leave then you have convert next to me. And recently Shinichi was with us in Kyoto field trip he acted like Conan. Then I remember you called me Ran-neechan on that day when we were going to school after the play and next in Kyoto you said "ah le le" to point out fact you want to show and then I got the idea that you did this because it had become your usual habit . Lastly biggest evidence was your journal and your glasses. Do you think I dumb I cannot figure that much " said Ran.

"my journal how did you got , I know while cleaning. I never doubt your intelligence , I always know you are a good detective better than you father and even me" he replied.

"thank you and So how better than you," She picked up his glasses and put it on Conan." You are the only one who doubted me of being shrunk no one else, even I can't imagine that if I could believe this fact until I gone through it" replied Conan. " okay now Go to your room now and sleep, okay?".

"Haaaai!" Shinichi noticed that Ran was trying so hard to hide her amusement in _Conan-kun's_ cheery attitude.

He just shot her a flat stare.

"Great, my girlfriend is not going to ever let all of these go."

"Of course~"

"Geh."

"Good night Conan-kun! Please tell Shinichi good night for me, too okay?"

"Good night, Ran-neechan! And Shinichi-niisan said that he hopes that you have good dreams tonight! That, and he'll call you before you sleep."

"Eh? Ah, oh alright! I have my phone with me so he can call when you get to your room, okay?"

"Okay! Bye!"

"Bye bye!"

"Are you not even going to ask what happened to me?"

"Hmm. I have a vague idea about it. You snooped around, got caught, shrunk and then boom, I got a little brother. Bad guys can't know where you are or else everyone will troubled . And now you're finding these bad guys to have them pay for their misdeeds!"

Shinichi sweat dropped at Ran's narration.

' _It's rough around the edges but... that's basically it.'_

"Do... do you want me to tell you?"

"Of course. So I think I'll listen to it when you finally come back to me for good. I know you'd tell me about it when the danger has already passed- or are you planning on keeping this from me forever?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Sorry, I was just kidding. But it's still dangerous, right? I know you. You can't spill the details until all of the mysteries were solved."

' _Yeah, she definitely knows everything about me.'_

"Thank you, Ran. I promise I will tell you _everything_ when the right time comes. I might drop some hints along the way though because I don't think I can ever bear to lie to you again..."

"I understand. To be honest, you don't need to but I am thankful that you care about me a lot.

"I love you."

Ran heard this a while ago but this time, it had finally sunk into her and blushed furiously.

"A-Ah— I... uhm I—that was sudden. Gosh I thought I was over it but hearing it with your adult voice... And uhm, I-I love you, too."

Shinichi gulped.

"My heart is beating very fast right now."

"Mine too."

They laughed together to ride out their nervousness.

Silence.

"Also I feel very relieved right now."

"Me too."

More silence.

"I-It has been a long day s-so I think we should sleep now?"

"I-I think so too."

"Good night, Ran."

"Good night, Shinichi."

"I..."

"Hmm?"

"I love you. I-I just had to say it again since you told me about that and my voice and—"

Ran giggled.

"I love you, too!"

Shinichi smiled and closed his eyes.

' _I can never exchange Ran for anything else in the world.'_

The scent of fried bacon wafted through Conan's senses as he entered the dining room. It was a school day so they had to wake up early although Kogoro was not awake yet. He knew Ran was cooking breakfast at the kitchen so he shouted a greeting before he entered the bathroom.

"Good morning, Ran-neechan!"

"Good morning, Conan-kun! Breakfast will be ready soon so wash your face first okay?"

"Haaai!"

Conan entered the bathroom and stepped onto the stool so that he could reach the sink _._

 _'This sucks, I don't even remember doing this when I was young...'_

And then Conan froze when he looked at the mirror.

 _'W-Wait... last night...was it dream'_

His eyes widened as he recalled the previous day's event.

"AAAH!"

"Conan-kun!?" Ran came barging into the bathroom with a spatula in her hand when she heard the boy's shout. "What happened!?"

Conan mechanically turned his head towards Ran. "S-So it wasn't a dream?"

Ran was staring blankly at him. She blinked several times and laughed. "Unfortunately for you, no."

"..."

"Come on, you dork. Finish your business already because breakfast is already served. I'll go wake up Otou-san now." Before she left, Ran dropped a kiss on Conan's forehead and then waved. "Hurry up, okay?"

Let's just say it took the poor flushing boy a few minutes before his brain worked again.

 _'That girl is going to be the end of me...'_

After helping Ran in putting away the dishes, Conan went back to his room to change his clothes. Then he grabbed his bag and found Ran waiting for him at the door.

"Let's go?"

"Hmm!"

They bid goodbye to Kogoro, _who was listening to the damn horse race on the radio again_ , and walked outside together. By instinct, Ran grabbed Conan's hand while walking so that he wouldn't get lost along the way. It was a little later when she realized that it was _Shinichi_ and she was holding hands with him _ohmygod—_

So she dropped Conan's hand like a piece of hot iron.

"S-Sorry!"

"Eh?" Conan blinked.

"I-it was a habit and uhm sorry uh—"

"Ran-neechan."

"—it was inappropriate of me to do that without your permission and it was embarrassing and I'm sorry—"

"Ran!"

"What!"

"It's fine. Ran-neechan can hold my hand whenever she wants."

"A-Ah?"

"So don't worry okay?" To prove his point, Conan grabbed Ran's hand and pulled her slightly to continue their walk.

"Ah if that's what you say..." She smiled and squeezed Conan's hand.

"Just relax, okay? We wouldn't want everyone to find out about _our_ secret..." Conan whispered.

"Sorry. It's just new to me and all..." Ran smiled sheepishly.

Conan squeezed Ran's hand.

"It will be alright. Don't worry."

They smiled fondly at each other one last time before continuing their walk towards Teitan Elementary.

Ran dropped Conan off in front of his school but not without giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"See you later, Conan-kun!"

"R-Ran—!"

Ran just giggled at the flustered boy before leaving.

"—neechan..."

 _'Geez, I think I'm going to have a heart attack soon...'_

"Heh, so much tension in the morning..."

"Gah!"

 _'Of course, she had to see it...'_ Conan just stared flatly at the girl behind him. "And good morning to you, too, Haibara."

"It's funny seeing the Great High School Detective of the East wrapped around Ran Mouri's finger..." Haibara flipped her hair lightly as she walked past him. "I know you hate being told off repeatedly but you should be more careful around her as always. _That girl_ is very perceptive and the next time you slip up, I don't think it won't end up good. Remember, _we don't want her to be involved_."

"Cute as always, Haibara." He answered monotonously. "But of course, I won't forget."

"Good."

Conan laughed dryly.

 _'Ah, Haibara will definitely kill me if she knew that Ran already discovered my secret..._

 _Well, not that she'll ever know. At least not until everything's over.'_

"Raaaaaaan!"

The karate captain was suddenly engulfed into a hug by her female best friend, Sonoko Suzuki.

"G-Good morning, Sonoko...?"

"What's good in the morning when I know that my best friend has been miserable for weeks and I can't do anything about it!? I know it's about Shinichi-kun and I swear I'll kick him to the next century for making his wife worry—"

"Sonoko..."

"—I don't care if he's some sort of a soccer god but I'll definitely kick him where the sun doesn't shine and it won't be pretty—"

Ran sweat dropped. _'If it's about kicking, I could do that myself you know...'_

"Sonoko, it's okay. I'm fine now. Sorry for worrying you." Ran smiled brightly at the short-haired girl.

Sonoko stared at Ran.

Sonoko stared long and hard at Ran that it made her a bit uncomfortable. She was startled when the girl suddenly shouted on her face.

"AH! I know that smile! Finally! Did you and Shinichi-kun...?"

"I don't know what you mean." Ran coughed.

"OH. MY. GOD."

"Sonoko..."

Sonoko squealed in delight. It was a miracle that people were not noticing the hyperactive girl but then again, it's a normal occurrence for the Suzuki Corporation heiress so they're probably used to it.

"I knew it! All of my investment towards you two has turned out great! Thirteen years of pinning you two together _ohmygod—"_

 _'What are we, stocks?'_

"Sonoko..."

Luckily for the exasperated Ran, the school bell rang.

"O-Oh look at the time, let's go to the classroom?"

"Awww. I'll get the details out of you later, Ran. Don't think you can escape the Deduction Queen, Sonoko-sama!"

 _'Of course, you will...'_

Ran warily laughed. "Yes, yes. Now let's go before the tardy bell rings."

"Oh no! I don't want to be late! Let's go, Ran!" Sonoko grabbed Ran's arm and dragged her towards their classroom.

 _'Sorry, Sonoko. As much as I wanted to tell you everything, I can't. Not yet. I can't put you in danger, too...'_ She smiled bitterly. _'Now I know how Shinichi felt whenever he's around me... He was trying to keep everything from me to keep me safe yet he also wanted to tell me everything—All that while dealing with his 'small' predicament. I keep wondering whether I did the right thing cornering him to confess or not... But the look on his face when he was breaking down tells me that he really needed me to be by his side so that he won't lose himself. So I will not waste my time regretting something that I have decided a long time ago—_

 _To be by his side whatever happens.'_

 ** _/_**

 ** _From: Conan-kun_**

 ** _Subj: After school_**

 _ **...**_

 ** _'Ran-neechan,_**

 _ **I'll be going with the Detective Boys after school to help with a case. I'll tell you the details later. See you at home.**_

 _ **-Conan.**_

 _ **P.S. Be safe.'**_

 _ **/**_

"Is it your husband?"

"Gah—Sonoko! You surprised me..."

"Sorry, sorry. You just had that smile and I thought that your husband texted you."

"A-ah no, no. It was Conan-kun. He was just telling me that he's going to go somewhere with his friends after school."

 _'Well, technically it's still from Shinichi...'_

"Ah so it was just the four-eyed brat."

"Don't be mean, Sonoko. Anyway, where is this new ice cream shop that you've been telling me since last night?"

"Oh! It's just a few streets away from your house."

"Wow, that's great! Maybe I can bring Conan-kun next time since he's busy today."

"Ooooh. Planning a date with your replacement husband, eh?"

"Geez, Sonoko!"

"Fine, fine I'll stop now." Ran breathed out a sigh of relief. "But I still need the details about Shinichi-kun!"

 _'Sonoko's really persistent as usual...'_

"Yes, yes. But actually it was just nothing. He called last night and my mood just lifted instantly..."

"Ah... True love..."

Ran's face was red in an instant.

"A-anyway, I was just stressed with the exams. There was no karate practice during finals week so I wasn't able to vent it out... And when Shinichi called, err well, let's just say that he's probably deaf by now."

Sonoko laughed not pitying the high school detective.

"But are you sure you're really okay now, Ran?" Sonoko was really worried about Ran. She noticed weeks ago that her best friend has been keeping something to herself again and that it was eating her friend inside out. But she knew that she can't do anything about it unless Ran asks for help.

And that was the problem, Ran is a selfless person. She wouldn't bother anyone because of her problems so she tries to solve it on her own. Before Shinichi disappeared, he was the only one who was able to detect Ran's troubles in a flash. Also, he was also the only one who could spill it out to them. Being a detective in addition to being a childhood friend is a very good combination in making Ran fess up about her problems. After Shinichi left, Sonoko felt that it was now her job to take care of Ran and tried her best to make her less lonely. Even though the karate champion looked happy on the outside, she knew it was opposite on the inside.

Ran was the only person who saw right through Sonoko. Since she's an heiress, not everyone who meets her has the purest of intentions. But with Ran, she's just Sonoko. Not the snobbish, rich girl but just a normal high school girl. So she tried really hard to bring Ran along in different trips, of course as long as Ran could afford it. That and Ran's luck was overflowing that she always gets free stuff.

 _If we didn't include the murder cases along it, sure._

So when Ran showed up this morning, Sonoko noticed that her friend was radiating with happiness that it made her cry.

Because the normal Ran was back.

Ran noticed the genuine concern of her friend. She blinked her eyes to prevent her tears from falling and smiled. "Thank you for worrying about me, Sonoko. You really are a good friend and I'm glad you're with me."

Sonoko sniffed. "Raaaaan! You're making me cryyyy!"

"Now, now Sonoko." The long-haired girl patted Sonoko's shoulder. "Wait— is that ice cream that's calling our names? Ara, look at that, we're already here!"

"Oooh, you're right! Let's get the largest parfait, my treat!"

"Oh no, I can pay—"

"SHHH. This is a celebration and you and Shinichi-kun's love so as a loyal fan, I should pay."

"E-EH?! Sonoko w-what—"

Ran was not able to finish her sentence as she was dragged once again by her energetic best friend.

 _'Really, I'm glad that I met you, Sonoko._

 _...And sorry for keeping something from you. I promise we'll tell you someday... Shinichi and I will.'_

 ** _/_**

 ** _From: Ran-neechan_**

 ** _Subj: Take care!_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _'Okay, Conan-kun. See you later at home. Oh by the way, we'll be having hamburger for dinner. I hope that's alright with you._**

 ** _Be careful, okay? I can't help but always worry especially if it's about a case. Please say hi to the kids for me, okay? Don't be reckless!_**

 ** _Love, Ran-neechan._**

 ** _P.S. I'm with Sonoko right now and we're going to go to the newly opened ice cream shop near the house. Maybe we could visit next time?'_**

 ** _/_**

Along with the mail was Ran's picture with her holding a gigantic parfait. Color red suddenly invaded the poor detective's face.

 _'Save, save.'_ After he was done, he quickly pocketed his phone and joined the rest of the Detective Boys. He lagged a few steps behind earlier when he was reading Ran's mail.

They were on their way towards Tokyo MPD Headquarters because the simple case of finding an amulet has turned into a murder case. _As usual._ So Takagi- _keiji_ needed to take their statements since they— _or rather Conan but they didn't have to know that_ —solved the case.

"Hey guys, Ran-neechan told me to say hi to you for her."

"Ah, Conan-kun! Tell her we said hi, too!" Ayumi chirped.

"Ran-neechan is so nice..." It was Mitsuhiko.

"Yeah, I remember her buying me unagi rice..."

"Genta-kun..." Everyone aside from Genta sweatdropped.

"Edogawa-kun is lucky to have her as a caretaker, eh?" It was Haibara this time. The kids agreed.

But Conan roughly translated Haibara's statement as, " _Kudo-kun is so whipped he can't even refuse a single request from his beloved_."

 _'She never passes up a chance, eh?'_

"Guess so." Conan stared flatly at Haibara then coughed to change the topic. "Anyway, I called Agasa-hakase and he'll bring us home after we're done. He also called your parents to inform them that you will be home later than usual."

"Okayyy!" Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta chorused in reply.

 _'It was a tiring day yet they're so full of energy as always...'_

It was 5:30 in the afternoon when the questioning ended.

"Thanks for the time, kids. Good work. You can go home now." Takagi smiled at the children.

"Haiiiiii. Thanks for your hard work!" They chorused.

Takagi stood up from his office chair and led the Detective Boys towards the exit. "Take care on your way home! _And I hope you don't attract murder cases again."_

 _'Sorry about being a murder magnet then...'_

"Yes, Takagi- _keiji!_ Agasa- _hakase_ is already waiting for us outside." Conan answered with fake cheer.

"Ah Agasa-san. Say hi to him for me, okay?"

 _'This is the second time today...'_

"Haaai. Bye bye Takagi- _keiji_!" Conan waved and ran towards his friends who were already flocking around Agasa- _hakase_ while hounding him excitedly with the details about the case.

Conan smiled. Even though being stuck in a child's body sucks, it was fun to solve mysteries with Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta. He felt a brotherly connection towards them and decided that there was a need to protect them from harm. So he helps them with their deductions so that when they grow up, they will become great people who will make him proud. And when the time comes when he's able to return to his true age and of course after the Black Organization is defeated, he promises to give them one last adventure before he tells them the truth.

Maybe Ran can help him on this one. She's better with children anyway.

"Tadaima!"

"Okaeri, Conan-kun!"

"Where's Oji-san?"

"Ah, he's just getting his recording of Yoko-san's drama earlier. He wasn't able to watch it because he was following someone for a case."

"What case?"

"Hmm... I think it was an adultery case."

Conan laughed dryly. _'Same old, same old.'_

"How was your day, Ran-neechan?"

"Oh since finals has just finished, it was not loaded. Not much homework and activities. Karate practice will resume soon so I'll be going home later than usual again. And the ice cream shop that I was talking about in the mail that I sent you was great! Did you see the picture I attached?"

 _'Yes... Yes, I did and I saved it somewhere nobody can reach. I don't want a repeat of last time...'_

"I saw it! The parfait looked great, Ran-neechan! Let's try it next time?"

 _'Not just the parfait, though...'_

"Okay! But not tomorrow since I ate a lot of it today."

"Okay. Just tell me when!"

"Of course! It's a date then!" They both blushed. "How about you, Conan-kun? How was your day?"

Ran giggled when she saw the bored look on Conan's face.

"We were looking for a lost amulet and we found murder instead."

"Why am I not surprised... Are you sure you don't want to be exorcised for being a murder magnet? Shinagami-sama might have possessed you..."

"Haha, funny." Conan just stared flatly at Ran while the girl was busy giggling at the boy's reaction.

"Anyway, so what happened?"

"We were looking for the amulet at a classmate's house. It was given to him by his biological mother who died when he was four. We found it. Turns out it was just stuck under the carpet. When we were getting ready to go home, we heard a scream. I rushed to where the scream originated and found a body in the bathroom. The victim was confirmed to be my classmate's stepmother."

"That's horrible... Losing two mothers at a young age." Ran frowned.

"Yeah. The method was simple. Someone laced the victim's lipstick with cyanide. The culprit knew that the victim always wore her favorite lipstick so they used that as a way to deliver the poison."

"Where do these people buy those poisonous things... It's like most murder cases that involved poisoning uses cyanide."

"True. Cyanide is often used because even a drop can instantly kill victim had a habit of licking her lips so when she applied the lipstick, the poison got into her tongue and that's it."

"So it means that the culprit is very close to her?"

"Yes, since they knew about their habits and favorite lipstick."

"So who did it then?"

"There were three suspects. Her husband, her bestfriend and her ex-boyfriend. All of them knew about her habit but one of them slipped something unusual to us. The culprit told us that they were in Kanagawa at the time of death. Kanagawa is one hour from Beika. Perfect alibi, right?" Ran nodded in agreement. "Though when Takagi- _keiji_ verified if that was true, they weren't able to find the culprit's name in any form of public transport systems towards Kanagawa. They insisted that they rode a car but they weren't able to show us their toll pass ticket."

"Wow, that was bold of them to use that alibi..."

"They thought the police would find it bothersome to check everything. But they even checked the CCTV recordings of the roads they were supposed to be traveling on but they never saw the culprit's car and plate number."

"And that's where their plan was ruined."

"Yes. The culprit was the best friend."

"Really? What was the evidence that you found?"

"Takagi- _keiji_ traced the order form of the lipstick that the victim had. He found out that the lipstick was new and rare and that only four people were able to buy it in that particular color. It was strange that the victim's name did not come up in the list but instead, the best friend's name showed up and it was found out that the lipstick was a gift from her a day ago. Also, traces of cyanide were found in the culprit's passenger seat. Apparently, she just dumped the container there after injecting the poison. That was careless of her."

"What was her reason...?"

Conan smiled sadly. "Jealousy and misunderstanding. The best friend thought that the victim was going behind her back by flirting with her boyfriend. But the thing is— the victim just needed help from the best friend's boyfriend to buy her a gift in exchange for the lipstick that she gave to her. They found the gift inside the victim and her husband's room."

"That's terrible..." Ran was tearing up.

Conan grabbed her hand and stroked it with his thumb to soothe the crying girl. "Every murder case is terrible, Ran..."

"I know but they really didn't have to kill... It's better to talk it out to make their relationship work. And now, more people are in grief. Especially that kid..." Ran weakly laughed while wiping her tears. "Sorry for being overly emotional..."

"It's okay, Ran. That's who you are." Conan— _Shinichi_ smiled at Ran. "You should never be ashamed of it. Please never change."

Ran smiled. "Thank you, Conan-kun." _'—Shinichi.'_

"You're welcome, Ran-neechan!" Conan grinned childishly at the taller girl. "Now stop crying, okay?"

"Okay, Conan-kun. Help me with dinner?"

"Okay!"

And that was when Kogoro came in.

"Eh? What's happening here?"

Ran and Conan just stared at the newcomer.

"What? Did I miss something here?"

The two just laughed.

"Bah! Laughing for no reason. Weird kids."

"Don't worry about it, Otou-san. I was just asking Conan-kun to help me with dinner."

"That brat should really help you since he's just freeloading here!"

Both Ran and Conan stared flatly at the older man.

 _'Not that my parents paid you millions of yen for my expenses...'_

"You're more like the freeloader here, Otou-san! I'm always cleaning up after you! _Now set the table."_ Ran glare could almost freeze even hell.

Kogoro squeaked in fright. "H-hai, Ran-chan..."

Ran smiled brightly as if nothing happened. "Thank you, Otou-san!"

Conan heard the man mumble the words ' _scary'_ and ' _should have never let her learn karate_ '.

 _'Haha. You never learn, Occhan...'_

"Now Conan-kun, let's leave that grumpy old man behind and prepare dinner, okay?"

"Okay, let's go Ran-neechan!"

Both ignored Kogoro's protest about not being a grumpy old man because _he's the Great Detective Sleeping Kogoro, damn it!_

"The kids wanted me to tell you that they said hi."

"Oh thank you, that was sweet of them."

Silence.

"Ran, when everything's over, will you help me with the kids?"

 _'Will you be my strength when I finally tell them the truth?'_

Ran smiled fondly at her love.

"Of course, Shinichi. I'll always be with you."

"Thank you."

Hattori Heiji, the Great High School Detective of the West was watching a baseball game when he received a call from Kudo. He excused himself from Kazuha, his childhood friend who was watching the game with him. The girl raised her eyebrow.

 _'Kudo?'_

 _'Kudo.'_

Kazuha nodded and let the ahou take his damn call from Ran-chan's boyfriend.

"Oi Kudo, wassup?"

"..."

"Kudo?"

"H-Hattori-kun?"

Heiji did not expect to hear a familiar female voice.

 _'SHIT.'_

"N-Neechan!?"

"Yes, Hattori-kun?"

"A-ah! N-neechan! I- uhm t-t'is phone ah... Why did ya call?"

"I just needed to confirm something with you."

"A-an' tha' is...?"

 _'Why do I get ta feelin' tha' I'm makin' a big mistake...?'_

"Why are you always calling Conan-kun, Kudo? For example, when I called you just now. I used Conan-kun's phone, you know? He lent me this because my phone was soaked and I just put it in rice to dry off."

' _Damn it, Kudo!'_

"N-No uhm I-I just read the caller ID wrong...?"

"You always found a way to cover your slip ups and luckily we believed you but thinking about how many times it happened, I think there's something more to it..."

Silence.

"As I've thought..."

Now, Hattori Heiji knew that Kudo will kill him because of this. Or Neechan. With Kazuha.

He shivered at the thought.

"A-As I've thought wha'...?"

"That Conan-kun and Shinichi are..." And Hattori heard a sob.

"A-Ah N-neechan! Argh! I told Kudo ta tell ya a'ready but noooo, he has t'is big ego and he's like ' _no, I will protect Ran even if we're both hurt emotionally'_ tha' ahou! I've a'ways told 'im to fess up 'cause it'll make his life easier but ta stubborn ahou can't—"

"Hattori-kun—"

"Sorry ya had ta find out like t'is but I knew t'is would happen someday 'cause yer smart an' perceptive an' ya knowin' will definitely help Kudo with his problem an' ya can definitely protect yerself but ugh I also understand Kudo's point'cause I'd probably do wha' he did ta Kazuha if it happened ta me—"

"Hattori-kun...?"

"I kno' it's hard ta believe tha' Kudo shrunk into a kid but ta evidence is there an' please forgive Kudo 'cause he did it with yer safety in mind an' 'cause he loves you an'—"

"Hattori-kun!"

"H-Hai...?"

And Hattori heard a laugh... which sounded like a child's...?

"Hattori...y-you are..."

"Kudo!? Wait wha' 'bout Nee-chan—"

"Ah, that was fun."

And then it clicked.

The damn voice changing bowtie!

"YA AHOU YA TRICK'D ME—"

"Sorry, sorry." Conan wheezed. "Just testing you. And wow, you failed miserably Hattori. _Thanks for protecting my identity._ " The pseudo kid said dryly.

"W-Wha—"

"Actually, I'm calling using Shinichi's phone. If you just bothered to check the damn caller ID then you'll know."

"I- erm—"

"But never mind that, Hattori. I have a question for you."

"I'm still mad a' ya. Dammit Kudo, I a'most had a heart attack! I a'most saw ta light..."

 _'I almost saw Neechan an' Kazuha pummel me ta oblivion...'_

"Sorry. But that was really necessary before I ask this question." Hattori halted as he detected the seriousness in Shinichi's voice.

"'Kay, I'll listen ta it. But try anythin' funny and I'll—"

"Sure, sure you'll beat me with a shinai and feed me to the dogs. But here's the question, do you really think that I should tell Ran that Shinichi Kudo and Conan Edogawa are one and the same?"

"W-Wha' drove ya' to ask t'is question...?"

"Just answer me, Hattori."

"Yeah, ya should."

"Okay, thanks."

"'kay—wait, tha's all!?"

"Yep. Treat it as a survey. Bye, Hattori!"

"Oi! Wait yer really goin' to...?"

"Are you an idiot? No way."

And the shrunken detective hanged up.

"THEN WHY DID YA EVEN CALL, YA AHOU!?"

"HEIJI, SHUT UP YA AHOU I'M WA'CHING AN' I CAN'T HEAR IT 'CAUSE OF YER YAMMERIN'!"

"ARGH!"

" **SHUT UP!** "

After the phone call at Ran's room,

"That was mean, Shinichi."

"Nah, I was just teasing him. But it's not like it was not you who talked to him at first."

"Well, I just wanted to find out if he really did know."

"Yep, and he found me out. He blackmailed me that he'll tell you so... yeah."

"Hmmm. But I think I feel a little better when he told me that he always suggested that you tell me."

"Yeah, Hattori is a very honest person. And I must admit that it was a very tempting suggestion. I almost succumbed many times..."

"You endured for so long, eh?" Ran stroked Shinichi's head gently.

"Yeah... and sorry that I'm not really sorry about that... but it doesn't matter now, right? You know now. You cornered me perfectly."

Ran smiled sadly. "I'm sorry for forcing you again... I know I should have waited as usual but—"

"What's done is done, Ran. It's okay." Then he snickered. "It just means that you have learned well from the true _Meitantei._ "

" _Oh shut up."_

"I am so proud of you."

"Shinichi!"

"Sorry, sorry. Can't help it. I missed this..."

"Me, too. Even if we can only do this late at night in my room..."

"Ran, as much as I'd love to, I am just in an eight-year old body and—"

 _"Do you want me to punch you into the earth?"_

"Sorry, Ran"

"But seriously, it kinda feels like an adventure. Hiding our secret that is."

Shinichi stared flatly at Ran.

"Ran, it was torture for me and it's an adventure to you?"

"Oh sorry, that's not what I meant. Adventure because we're doing something together again after a long time... Well at least for me." Ran sheepishly admitted. "And we'll never know what will happen in the future but as long as we're in it together then it's fine with me."

"R-Ran..."

"Also, I'm saving you from the wrath of many people by not telling them that I knew."

Shinichi laughed dryly.

"Well, they can guess as much as they want but I won't fess up." Shinichi smirked. "And I say we're doing a good job not letting them know."

"Yeah, we really make a great team."

They high-fived each other.

"Makes you wanna regret not telling me sooner, eh?"

"Nope, I'm not listening."

"Oh children should just go to bed now. They might not grow taller if they miss their sleep."

"...That's a low blow, Ran..."

Ran giggled then surprised Shinichi with a peck on the forehead. "Oh get over it."

Shinichi just grunted in reply.

"Now, off you go!" Ran patted Shinichi's back to get him off the bed.

"Hai, hai. Good night, Ran." Shinichi kissed Ran's cheek.

"Good night, Shinichi!"

It was one thing to understand, but accepting it wholeheartedly _is a very difficult task._

Yes, Ran told Conan that she understood the reason behind his actions, that he never meant to hurt her and that he kept the truth from her with the purest of intentions in mind but she can't help but feel like an idiot whenever she remembered how she acted before she confronted the shrunken high school detective.

' _Ignorance really is bliss.'_ Ran thought bitterly. _'But I can't be an idiot forever.'_

She thought she was over it—that after the stunt that she had pulled with Conan, her understanding would be accompanied by blind acceptance.

But she was proved wrong. That phone call with Heiji Hattori has forced some of the feelings that she has been desperately sealing off out in the open.

The feelings of betrayal, anger, hurt and confusion.

 _Other people had known about Shinichi's case before her? Shinichi was able to tell other people about his problem? How many more people were involved in this? Was she unworthy of his trust?_ ** _Did he really love her or...?_**

Stop.

She can't let herself be consumed by ill-driven thoughts.

Ran knows that what Shinichi needs now is her support and she can't let herself become selfish by letting some stupid and irrational feelings overcome her that might drive her love away.

Didn't she tell herself that if she was going to make Shinichi confess, it was because she had decided to be his pillar of strength, not to condemn him?

She knew that Shinichi trusts her with all of his heart since he confessed to her before that the one that he's not able to trust was himself. It broke her heart into pieces when she realized that her brave and courageous Shinichi has been reduced into a scared and overly cautious 'child'.

Her best friend's life was ruined and he was struggling to survive yet she was only thinking of her own troubles.

No.

That's not fair to Shinichi.

So that night, she locked the door to her bedroom ignoring Conan's persistent knocks and pretended to fall sleep as an excuse to miss their nightly meeting. She truly can't face her boyfriend in an unstable, sorry state. He didn't need to know that she harbors such _shameful_ feelings deep inside her heart. Instead, she just silently cried her heart out, wishing that the unwanted feelings would vanish when the night's over and that her heart would lock her deepest, darkest secrets once again.

But at the same moment, she didn't know that someone was listening at her painful woes behind her bedroom door with a face full of regret and sadness.

"Ne, Ran-neechan?"

"Yes, Conan-kun?"

"Did you cry last night?"

A pause.

Then a smile.

"No, Conan-kun. I didn't."

"Okay..."

He squeezed Ran's hand.

Ran's luck has gotten the Mouri household free dinner in an expensive Italian restaurant via raffle in the supermarket that day.

Conan dryly laughed. _'As expected. Her luck is inexhaustible.'_

So now, Ran was helping him with his tie and the poor boy can't help but become overly conscious with the proximity of the beautiful girl from his face.

Ran was wearing a pink turtle neck dress under a white coat that will protect her against the harsh cold winds of the night. Her hair was loose and she didn't wear any cosmetics aside from a strawberry-flavored lip-gloss.

 _'No makeup can enhance Ran's already beautiful face anyway.'_

"Did you really have to help me with this?" Conan whined to mask the true reason for his redness.

Ran properly tightened Conan's tie and patted his chest signaling that she was done with her task. "But Conan-kun, if we don't keep this up, someone's bound to notice, right?"

 _'She's right...'_

"But Ran-neechan—"

"No buts!" Ran smirked. "And well, you're just so fun to tease soooo..."

"Raaaannnnnnnn!"

Ran kissed the whining boy's cheek and grabbed his hand. "Come on, Conan-kun. Let's check on Otou-san, shall we?"

"Wait, Ran-neechan!"

"Did you forget something, Conan-kun?"

"U-Uhm kind of. Since you're closer, can you please get it for me, Ran-neechan? It's in the front pocket of my schoolbag."

"E-Eh? Sure, no problem." Ran grabbed his bag which was placed at the end of where Conan's futon should be and checked inside for the thing that Conan forgot. Ran wasn't expecting anything but when she found a small, rectangular velvet box wrapped in a piece of white satin ribbon, she didn't know what to think. Though Ran was hoping that she was able to suppress the blush that was caused by her silly thoughts.

 _'Is this—!? But the box is rectangular so I doubt it. And it's Conan's, not mine so don't get so excited, Ran...'_ Ran smiled nervously and presented the item to Conan. "I-Is this what you're looking for, Conan-kun?"

Conan nodded with enthusiasm. "Open it!"

"E-eh!? This is a gift for someone, right? So I'm not supposed to—"

Conan rolled his eyes. "Ran, it's for you. Who else would it be for?"

"F-for me...?" Ran blinked.

 _'Of course, barou. As if I'd buy things like that for other people.'_

"Yes! Shinichi-niichan told me to give you that as a surprise. Open it!"

"A-ah, alright, I'm opening it now." Pulling the ribbon and letting it fall onto the floor, Ran opened the velvet box which revealed a set of sparkling earrings.

The earrings were shaped as a flower— an orchid of course, derived from her name— and it was studded with purple crystals which made the accessory appealing to the eye.

And Ran was in love with it.

"Shinichi..."

Conan smiled. "Shinichi-niichan said that he knows that you will get the meaning of those earrings, Ran-neechan. You're good with flower meanings, right?"

Ran shyly nodded. "Respect and admiration..."

"He also said that he's giving it to you as a symbol of his promise..."

"Promise?"

"That he will definitely come back to you no matter what. That even though he can't take care of you properly now, he will make it up to you when he comes back." A pause. "So for the meantime, I'm going to be your prince, Ran-neechan! I'll take care of you!"

 _'Shinichi...'_

"Aww come here, Conan-kun!" Ran hugged the poor flustered boy while she tried to prevent her tears from falling down. "You're really the sweetest!"

"Ran...neechan... can't...b-breathe—"

"Sorry, sorry. I was just so happy." She loosened the hug. "Okay, I'll just put these on for a bit and then we'll fetch Otou-san downstairs, alright?"

"Okay, Ran-neechan!"

When Ran was finished, Conan was not able to decide whether it was Ran's earrings or her smile that shone better in his eyes.

At restaurant

Conan smiled his usual grin upon finishing the examination of the floor and every garbage bin in the whole house. It had been a tiring process and without Ran's help he would have need twice as long, but the fact that they didn't find anything was a good sign. Smirking Conan wanted to leave the room of the crime, where some police officers still loitered around, searching for something. But before he could make a step, a pair of hands grabbed him and lifted him up to a girl's chest. "Conan-kun", Ran scold, the faint teasing undertone she started to use whenever she had to act her role as bigger sister, "You can't just walk around the crime scene. Come we will go back to dad.", and with those words, she carried him away. Upon exiting the room and making sure no one was able to hear them she whispered solightly annoyed, "How often do I have to tell you, that it looks creepy when you suddenly start to grin at a murder scene!"

"Sorry Ran-neechan.", the boy in her arms apologized, scratching his cheek, "but I just can't help it. You know how I love the feeling of having the culprit backed into a corner."

"First of, you don't have to call me Ran-neechan when nobody is around, we have agreed to that, right? And second I can't believe that they haven't noticed till now, so try to get rid of this habit or hide it at least." Ran scoffed angry, but Conan knew that her anger stemmed only from worry.

"We have also agreed, that I would call you Ran-neechan whenever we are in unsafe locations and I don't consider crime scenes and Kid heists to be particularly safe." Conan retorted.

After they have talked things trough, they came up with a bunch of rules, ranging from how to call each other up to what Shinichi was allowed to know. Conan didn't think much of it but Ran insisted that it would be suspicious for a child to know too much, so she forced Conan to promise her to turn down his encyclopaedia knowledge a bit.

"Ran-neechan?", a voice called out to her, bringing her back to reality and she noticed that they already arrived in the main hall, were everyone was gathered, the police still debating with the house owner and Kogoro, who the culprit could be. It was a huge buffet after all, intended as a sign of gratitude to all the sponsors of a huge project Ran couldn't quit remember and her father was invited as a special guest, even though there was no apparent reason for him to be there. After the delicious meal, the group consisting of 16 people left the dining hall, some went to smoke while others strolled around the house. A bell should chime when the dessert was ready, but 10 minutes before the ring of the bell, a scream erupted from one of the back rooms of the large mansion. Upon following the scream, Ran, Kogoro and Conan found the dead body of one of the most important sponsors for the project and, before the police even arrived, Conan had already spotted the strangulation marks left by a thin thread on the man's neck and has narrowed down the list of suspects, sole based on their clothing.

"We were the first to arrive at the scene, so the culprit must have fled the crime scene quickly before we arrived. However, pricy suits are not designed for running, so the clothing of the culprit must have strong wrinkles.", he explained to Ran after they were chased out of the room when the police arrived. Afterwards Ran, much to Conan's pleasure he no longer had to steal sheets of paper showing the facts and findings regarding the crime scene, asked the forensic team if the murder weapon had been found, which was not the case, so, Ran and Conan split up to search the whole house for it.

And now that they haven't found the thread, Conan concluded that it would still have to be in possession of the murderer.

"But I tell you that it has to be the butler! It's always the butler" Kogoro's loud voice insisted, only to be answered with an equally loud reply by the host of the dinner, "Francois may be a butler and a foreigner, but he has served me for more than a decade and since then I haven't heard a single word of complain. He is most definitely not the culprit. "

Kogoro, not willing to lose his prime subject, was about to retort, when a sudden dizziness overcame him, and he started to wobble backwords. After he slumped in the armchair behind him, his head tilted down, effectively hiding his face and everybody knew what was about to happen.

"Oh, it's sleeping Kogoro!" Takagi exclaimed and Inspector Megure only muttered a faint "Was about time."

"If you trust in your servant so strongly," Kogoro's voice started in a much politer way, "then I am glad to assure you of his innocence. The culprit is this case was not one of the employees, who served us this delicious dinner, but one of the guests who sat with us at the table."

Not even shifting a tiny bit, the renowned detective continued, "But before reviling who of the present people committed the crime, I'd like to demonstrate how the murder was executed. First the state of the room. When we arrived, I had to break down the door, because I couldn't open it without force. The examination afterwards showed us that it was only locked with a bolt from the inside, even though it could also have been locked with a key, which we found in the victims pocket. However, it seemed the culprit didn't need to secure it further, because his plan has already failed!", Kogoro's voiced dropped to a low tone at the end of the sentence. Everybody in the room seemed to be taken aback by this revelation and as usual Megure asked the question, hanging in the air, "But the man is dead Mori-kun! So, how can you say that his plan failed."

"If you look at the crime scene, you will note that it has the perfect setup for a locked room suicide. The locked door, the torn goodbye-letter in this rooms trash can and the poisoned coffee on the table are all irrefutable evidence for the culprit's scheme. He likely lured the victim to this room, claiming to propose a deal, bringing along a cup of poisoned coffee as a token of his good will. He would only need to place the letter, lock the door with bolt and the victims key, which he still has in his left breast pocket, and escape from the room after the victim succumbed to the poison." The sleeping detective or rather the child detective, hiding in his shadow, explained.

In search for confirmation, Megure turned to the forensic team, which were quick to confirm the presence of the poison in the coffee.

"But Mori-kun, how can you escape from this room while it is locked? We are on the third floor, there is no tree outside and the door closes neatly!", Megure exclaimed, feeling the usual sense of Deja-Vue he got every time a detective explained him anything.

"This part of the trick will be demonstrated by Ran," Kogoro said, while all eyes turned over to his daughter, who stood behind the table, facing the door, "after all, she was the one who figured out this trick.", the siting detective revealed, his voiced tainted with pride," Ran! Show them!"

Ran scratched her cheek embarrassed, she still didn't quite understand why Shinichi insisted, that she would partake in solving the cases. True she had figured the trick out, but only after Conan had repeated every known fact twice to her, patiently waiting for her to solve the riddle. Since their "Big Night of Revelation", as Hattori called it, Conan had always tasked Ran with solving a small portion of the riddle and whether she got it right or not, she would have to reveal the trick to everybody. This was one of Conan's demands and he heavily insisted that Ran would continue doing it, claiming that it would make everything easier.

"No matter what happens, whether I die or regain my old body, your dad will lose the "Sleeping Kogoro". So, I thought it would give him some piece of mind, if he knew his daughter could continue his work. I don't want to force you to become a detective, but it can't hurt to be able to be one.", was what he said to her.

Yes, she didn't want to become a detective.

She wanted to be a mother and wife, waiting at home for her children and husband.

However, she was convinced that her husband would continue her father's legacy or rather his own legacy.

Snapping out of her memories, Ran started her explanation slowly, paying careful attention not to stutter, like she did when she first played her role.

"So,…even though the plan of the murder hasn't worked as intended,… he escaped like he planned. If you would all look over at my dad, I can start." Ran ended, still nervous as always, but she remembered Conan's word of encouragement, he would always tell her if she needed them.

As instructed, everyone turned their heads to look over at the still motionless man sitting in the armchair and wondering what would happen next.

After a nearly half a minute of waiting for Kogoro to do something, Megure asked confused, "Why should we look at Mori-kun?" turning his head to look back, only finding an empty table before his eyes, "Ran-kun?", he asked, voicing the confusion everybody of the spectators felt right now.

"Please focus your attention back on me.", Mori demanded in his usual deep voice, seemingly unfazed by his daughter's disappearance, "the mystery will soon be revealed."

After a couple of minutes, the door behind him opened and Ran entered the now unlocked room, still nervous, but wearing an amused smile on her face, when she spotted the startled faces of everybody in the room. Giving Conan, who sat behind the big armchair, a hidden Thumb-up, she moved to stand beside the armchair, hands crossed behind her back.

Shinichi smiled from behind his glasses over at his girlfriend, again surprised of how quickly she mastered her role.

"If I wouldn't have been here, maybe she would have become the Detective of the East.", he fancied, dismissing the thought quickly and concentrating back on his task. Bringing up the bow tie, he started to explain, "The trick is very simple, but that is what makes it so effective. Ran, like the culprit before, simply left through the window and entered again trough the adjacent one.

As his words seeped through to the spectators, they all quickly gathered at the window, everybody stretching their neck, to check if the solution could be really that simple.

"But Mori-kun,", Megure was the first to turn around, a confused expression on his face, "the next window is at least two and a half meters (8 feet) away from this one. There is no way somebody could jump this far from this small ledge."

A smile creeped on Conan's face as he continued the explanation, "I did not speak about a window on this floor inspector. In fact, Ran did not jump at all but climbed up to the roof, entering the skylight to get back into the house. The trick is a simple as grabbing the ledge of the roof, climb up and come back down. Furthermore, this moonless night provided the perfect cover for this stunt, because you would need exceptional eyes to spot a person clad in a dark suit."

"But how can we know who is the culprit? Everybody who came down the stairs could have committed this crime! On top of that, we don't have reliable source to confirm who speaks the truth and who lies.", Megure interjected and Shinichi wondered once again if the bulky inspector had grown too dependent on detectives to solve his cases.

Sighting lightly, disappointed that nobody seemed to understand something this simple, he started again, "Ran. Please explain these gentlemen what the proof is."

"The clothes of the culprit.", Ran declared, still a little shaky from the adrenalin of the fall, but composed enough to not quiver as she spoke, "pricy suits are not designed for something like this, so the murderer's suit would show a lot of wrinkles. Besides, it's very likely that some of the vines, growing at this wall, have left traces of pollen or leaves on his clothing.", the girl concluded, even pausing for a moment before revealing the guilty person, raising the tension dramatically.

"IT WAS YOU!" she finished, pointing straight at a young man in a black suit with a blue tie, who flinched backwards at her words.

"What…!?" the man stammered, but quickly regaining his composure, "What nonsense! Who do you think you are talking too?"

"The culprit, of course!", Ran shoot back, her voice boiling with anger, "Do you even know what you exactly did? You killed a person, took him away from his family, his loved ones. Just think of his wife! Sitting at home, waiting for her husband to come back, wanting to discuss their holyday plans. Or think of his daughter, coming home from school, only finding her mommy crying, not understanding what is happening, not grasping that SHE WILL NEVER SEE HER FATHER SMILE AGAIN!"

The emotional outbreak was far from what everybody expected, of course, they knew how sensible Ran is to those kinds of things, but it still sounded like she talked about herself, even though both her parents were very much alive and rather healthy.

"Maybe, she really never saw her Dad smile like he used to, since her mother left." Conan couldn't help but fancy, quickly shoving the thought away, caging it with all those other questions he wanted to ask Ran, but had to wait for now.

After Ran,s outburst, the murderer didn't put up much of a fight, visibly shaken in his morality by Ran's words and not soon after the police escorted him out of the house in handcuffs. The traces of leaves, along with the piano wire, he had bound around his torso to hide it, were more than enough prove to convict him for years.

"Well Mori-kun, great work as usual.", Megure complimented the now awake detective, who, again, took the credit for the whole case shamlessly.

"Ahh, that was a piece of cake Inspecto, you know how…", he already started to boast, but Megure was quick to interrupt him by speaking up again.

"And thanks to you too, Ran-kun. It seems you're really taking after your dad and Shinichi-kun. Who knows, maybe you will even surpass them both.", the inspector added jokingly.

With flaring cheeks Ran only thanked modestly, "I'm glad I could help, but I don't think I will ever surpass either of them."

Conan wasn't too sure about this. Even though she would probably never catch up to him or FBIs like Akai Shuichi, he wouldn't put it past her to reach the level of other high school detectives like Sera or even Hattori.

But there was no doubt that she had already surpassed the old man!", Conan thought, sending an annoyed glance over at the old man who was marching to their car, signaling them both to follow him.

Conan only sighted, walking after the "renowned detective", but then a hand reached out to hold his and when he looked up, Ran smiled down at him with the loveliest smile he could ever imagine.

"Maybe things aren't as bad, as I think they are.", the shrunken teen thought to himself, "but just because she knows now doesn't mean I can let her wait longer.", he silently vowed, but nontheless confident in the future, because she was by his side.

Together they could achieve everything.

By some stroke of bad luck, murder case has happened while Kogoro, Ran and Conan were having dinner at _Ristorante Italianni._ They were already heading home so they called a taxi to bring them back home.

"Ahhhh, that was a great meal." Kogoro burped while rubbing his belly. He ignored Ran's lecture about being improper in public places.

"Yeah! Ran-neechan was really lucky to get them for free!"

Ran giggled. "Let's go back next time, then."

"Okay!"

"Oi oi, I'm not paying for that, you hear!?"

"Hai, hai Otou-san. Whatever you say." Ran suddenly touched her chin in thought. "But huh, I feel strange. Did you guys get some charm or something?" Ran asked her two companions with a tilt of the head _but obviously it was directed towards the shrunken detective who was very much aware of the girl's insinuation._

Kogoro raised his eyebrow. "Charm?"

"Mm! Usually when we go to places like these a case suddenly pops up, right?"

 _'Oi Ran, don't jinx it...'_ Conan laughed nervously.

"Aha! Maybe the culprit got scared because they knew that the Great Detective Mouri Kogoro was present! My presence alone was able to thwart the culprit's evil plans for tonight so that means I saved the day!" Ran and Conan stared flatly at each other before shrugging their guardian off.

 _'Let's just ignore him, shall we?'_

 _'That's always the best idea, Ran.'_

The teenagers, one adult-sized and one kid-sized, sighed in resignation and droned out the voice of their bragging _meitantei_. They were in the backseat of the taxi so it was easy to ignore the old man who claimed the seat beside the driver's.

"Ran-neechan?" Conan whispered.

Ran smiled and touched his hand. "What is it, Conan-kun?"

Ran noticed the boy's sudden nervousness and she felt that the hand she was holding was sweating despite the cool air blown by the car's air conditioner. After a few moments, the teenager-turned-kid finally replied. "...Can we talk later?"

Ran titled her head. "Hmm? Sure!"

"Can you promise me that?" Ran widened her eyes at Conan's strange question. "Because you have been ignoring my knocks since a few days ago..." Ran averted her eyes from Conan and then he knew that he finally hit the target. "So maybe it's about _that_ again so maybe we could... talk it out?"

 _'That, eh? Of course, he would figure it out...'_

The girl felt like she just swallowed a hard rock. She squeezed Conan's hand and tried to smile before answering nervously. "Okay, Conan-kun. We can talk whenever you want."

"Okay, Ran-neechan. Thank you." Conan smiled at the troubled girl.

Then he yawned.

"Ara, sleepy already Conan-kun?"

"A bit, Ran-neechan." He lifted his eyeglasses for a bit to rub his eyes and placed it back. "Ran-neechan..." Conan hesitated for a second before continuing. " _Can I lean on you?"_

"Hmmm?"

"I kinda feel sleepy and since there's heavy traffic now which will make our trip longer, I thought maybe I could have a little nap?"

For some reason, Ran knew that he was not just about _taking a nap_ so her eyes softened at the boy and smiled brightly. "Of course, Conan-kun. _You can always lean on me._ "

And in Conan's case, he also knew that she wasn't just talking about his nap either.

"You're always so kind, Ran-neechan. _Thank you._ " The shrunken detective kissed Ran's cheek before settling down to her side. Ran touched the cheek where her love's lips have touched and stared fondly at Conan— _Shinichi._

"You're always welcome, my _Meitantei_."

Despite Kogoro's loud rambling— _oh the poor taxi drivers ears –_ the two childhood friends turned lovers slept soundly until they were woken up by Kogoro when they finally arrived at the Detective Agency.

"Geez, still drinking this late at night..."

Conan laughed dryly. _'That's Occhan for you...'_

After changing out of their clothes, Ran and Conan went down to the Agency to check on Kogoro who was watching his beloved Yoko Okino's late rerun of her drama. As expected, they found an intoxicated Kogoro who was dead asleep in his office. Ran sighed miserably at the mess that she has to clean up _again._

"Mou! It's always like this!" Ran turned the television off then grabbed Kogoro's collar and shook him awake. "Otou-san! Go upstairs and sleep already!"

But Ran only got some incoherent noises and a _'Yoko-chwaaaannn~'_ from her inebriated father.

Conan sweat dropped as he saw Ran drag her father to the door then threw the drunken man outside.

"If you don't go upstairs now, I'm not sure where my fist will land, Otou-san..." Ran smiled darkly which immediately sent her father running towards their apartment.

 _'Scary...'_

The girl stepped back into the Agency and found Conan already picking up the beer cans that littered around the office.

Ran frowned. "Geez. This is why Okaa-san isn't coming back home. He really needs to get himself together..." She got the broom and washcloth to start cleaning, too.

 _'Occhan is really dependent on Ran. I wonder who really the pillar of this family is..."_

Conan laughed dryly once again.

After the Agency has been cleaned and locked, the two went upstairs to finally have their long-awaited rest for the day.

...That is, if this was a normal day. Instead of heading to Kogoro's room, Conan pulled Ran into her room and locked the door. The girl sat down on her bed while the small boy remained standing in front of her.

Conan— _Shinichi_ broke the silence.

"You really think I won't hear your cries at night? That I won't figure it out?"

"..."

They were finally alone in Ran's bedroom to talk but the girl seemed to be ignoring him as she was busy staring at the window.

"Ran..."

"..."

"Ran." Shinichi took her hand. "It's okay to admit that you still feel betrayed for what I did."

Ran whirled her head around towards her best friend. "No, it's—!"

"You think it's unfair to me for you to feel that way—That you should understand _and accept_ what I did because it was for you and the greater good. That you should support me all throughout because I was the one who got the short end of the stick." He squeezed Ran's hand then whispered. "Is that it...?"

Ran was speechless. Honestly, she wanted to tell Shinichi about her feelings but she didn't know how to do so without making him feel bad. She didn't want Shinichi to be guilty of something he was not in control of. But it seems that nothing escapes the prodigy detective named Shinichi Kudo.

"Honestly, Ran. It's a habit of yours to keep these important feelings to yourself." Shinichi smiled. "But Ran, your feelings are valid. Don't ever think that it's not. You should never, ever keep them from me even though it will hurt so the truth will always set you free no matter what."

"S-Shinichi..." Ran's eyes were getting damp. "I..."

Shinichi's eyes softened at the sight. "Go on, I will wait for you."

Her tears fell.

"Waiting is such a painful thing you know?" A single sob. "I was given an assurance— that you will come back to me. I know, _I know_ that I don't really mind waiting but it was just so sudden...

I don't really mind waiting. I really don't. After all, when someone you haven't seen for a long time returns, the reunion is sweeter, right? But when I realized that you were just beside me all this time, I felt like an idiot. I should have persisted when I first suspected you. I caught you off-guard many times, right?

Yet I was so stupid to reject the possibility that you were..." Ran choked a laugh. "I sometimes wished that I was a great detective like you but it's just not in my character, ne?"

As Ran was talking, Shinichi never let go of her hand.

"Barou. You are not stupid. And you could if you try, you know? Don't ever forget that you drove me into a corner recently." Shinichi smirked.

He got a playful smack in the head.

"I really felt lost, you know? I was hesitating whether to do that or not because I wasn't sure that you'd want me in. You never really wanted me to butt into your cases, right? To be honest, I did not know where I stood in your life.

But then I realized that I'm probably not the only one hurting. Because you became like _that_ , you probably felt disoriented, helpless and alone. No one can help you or else they would be in terrible danger because of their connection to you and you can't handle the guilt of being held responsible for their deaths. And you seeing me sad because of _Shinichi_ was just making you feel worse since you can't do anything to ease the pain. I thought that it was getting too much for you, so I selfishly decided to end the facade between us once and for all, hoping to lighten your burden..." Ran took a deep breath before continuing. "I thought I was ready, you know? I've been preparing myself for that confrontation by burying my shameful feelings deep into my heart but that call from Hattori-kun made my resolve to keep a lid on my feelings falter. I realized that I never prepared myself for that situation— that other people knew who you are before me."

Shinichi looked away guiltily.

"It's stupid, right? I know I already implied that I already knew about that but actually facing the situation was a different case." Ran bitterly laughed. "It's really hard to admit but I guess I just didn't want to be out of the loop when it comes to you. We've been together since we were in pre-school and I know every quirk and habit that you have. So to be thrown suddenly out was... strange to me. It felt like I was in a limbo. It bothered me so much that other people actually knew yet I, your childhood friend who's been with you for a long time, have been completely clueless about your situation. I didn't know what to make of it so I just shoved these feelings deep down because I know that there was a legitimate reason for all of that. _I know... I know yet... I can't help but feel neglected and abandoned?_

Or maybe it was just the loneliness in me that was making me a wreck. I don't even know myself... I'm sorry, Shinichi, for being a selfish person..."

Ran felt Shinichi's other hand on her cheek. "It must have been very hard on you then."

"Ran," Shinichi said, curling his tiny legs under himself. He was looking down again. "This is a lot to accept, and a lot to wrap your head around, but if there's only one thing you _can_ accept, let it be this: I never made these decisions lightly."

"Shinichi, so many people know," Ran pressed, trying to hard to understand, "Agasa-hakase, your parents, Hattori-kun, even the Kaitou Kid. I thought I was the one person closest to you-"

" _You are._ " Conan looked up with the fierce gaze of Shinichi, and Ran double took again. "You're closer to me than _anyone_. Outside of hakase, no one ever found out because I told them; I didn't tell _anyone_ , including my parents, because of the risk. It was _because_ you are the person closest to me that made you the _hardest_ person to tell, because I never, _ever_ , wanted to be the one to put that look of betrayal on your face."

And at last, Ran understood. It killed him; hurt him just as much as it hurt her. He willingly went through all that suffering just for the peace of mind that she, at least, would be safe. She thought back to the times she had seen him as an adult, the physical pain he must have been put through just so he could see her, just so he could _let_ her see him. Little Conan, sitting and sulking and quietly suffering while she ate ice cream and gave a tirade on Shinichi and how he'd stood her up again - because he wanted to be near her bad enough that he would endure such an abuse of his character just to reassure her that someone, even if it was just a seven year old boy, would be there for her.

Ran smiled. It didn't take it all away, but now she could work on it, if only to save her beloved Shinichi from suffering more.

Running a hand through her hair, Ran crossed her arms and put on a pompous face. "Mouri Ran and Edogawa Conan have just had a long and involved discussion," she said in lofty tones, making Shinichi look up. "Because Edogawa Conan is from America," she continued, "he has explained that it is rude to always refer to a sister as a sister, and that it's better to refer to someone by name. Mouri Ran, who finds Edogawa Conan to be very cute, and understands how lonely it is to be 'away' from the people he most cares about," she opened one eye slightly to watch his reaction, "has decided that, to make Edogawa Conan feel more at home, she will allow him to refer to 'Ran-nee-chan' as simply 'Ran.'

Ran's eyes widened in a fraction of a second then turned her gaze away from the wistfully smiling Shinichi. "Compared to what you've experienced, this is nothing."

"No, Ran. The severity of the problem is not important. Well, it is but not on this case. The most important thing is the effect of that problem to you. It's making you suffer so you need to let it out." Shinichi smiled sadly. "I'm sorry that I made you doubt about where you stood in my life."

"..."

"You were always been a fixture in my life, Ran. When I first met you, your smiling face made my heart tremble. As we grew up, we were always doing almost everything together. When we stumble into cases, we always stick together. I guess I need to apologize for the stint I had pulled when we were in grade school." Shinichi admitted sheepishly.

Ran knew exactly what he was talking about. That was when Shinichi told her that they should call each other by last names because they were not children anymore and they would probably be teased by their classmates if they did not stop. To be honest, Ran did not see the point in it but it hurt her so much since she felt that Shinichi's distancing himself from her. But thanks to the code that the mysterious man left in the library, they were able to have an adventure to become closer again.

"There were so many times that I've wanted to tell you, but I could never go through with it. I told myself that the situation was temporary, and I could always tell you after I changed back. But that time got farther and farther away and the lies kept piling up... I'm sorry..."

His voice was choked with emotion, but he was obviously trying to stay strong. Shinichi had never reacted well to sympathy, so Ran forced herself to stay silent and allow him to continue.

"It wasn't that I didn't trust you. I can tell you're thinking that even if you haven't said it. It was that I didn't trust myself. You don't know how hard it is to always be pretending to be something I'm not. I was always afraid that if you knew I wasn't really a seven year old, I'd be tempted to lower my guard and be myself. It only takes one poorly chosen moment to-" Conan broke off with a grimace. He forcibly made himself continue, "I knew I wasn't being fair to you, but if something happened to you because of my weakness then it really would be my fault..."

"You've always been the most important person in my life ever since we met, Ran. I understand that my actions were unfair to you but if keeping you away from me will keep you alive then I will take that chance. I am not glorifying my actions, Ran. It was not the most appealing choice that I have made and you are welcome to have negative feelings for me after what I did. I won't hold it against you. It _is_ a fact that I hurt you and made you doubt our friendship— making you cry alone at night." Ran flinched at this statement. "So imagine my surprise when you perfectly cornered me and then you decided to act like nothing has happened in the end. It was really unexpected that you forgave me immediately without erm... making me your punching bag."

"Conan, you haven't exactly been hiding under the radar since I first met the new you," Ran said lightly trying to break the tension and was rewarded with a weak laugh from Conan. She continued, "And while you may not have faith in yourself, I do. I can't count the number of times you've saved my life. Even if you're right about the danger, I'm willing to take that risk because I am not willing to have you shoulder all of the burden. Especially if part of the reason is to protect me."

Ran snorted. "I really don't want a surprise visit from child services one day, Shinichi."

Shinichi sweat dropped but immediately composed himself back to continue his speech. "We are just human, Ran. What separates us from other beings is the level of intelligence that we were equipped with due to evolution. Also, our brain is able to produce chemicals that will result to _feelings_. So your feelings are just a reaction to what I did, which was unjust on your side. You shouldn't be ashamed of it. I did what I did because of my feelings for you and I'm not ashamed of it— although it still pains me to know that I am still causing you grief and insecurity. If our situations were reversed and you were the one who was poisoned, I will also not stop until I find out the truth— I'd probably do worse than you did.

We both understand our intentions behind our moves so the best course of action to take is... to just be ourselves. No lies. No secrets. Not anymore. Now that we can talk like this off the phone, we can properly convey our feelings to one another, right?"

Ran nodded slowly.

"We can't probably go back the way we were before but what we have now is a start of something better, I believe." Shinichi smiled.

"But isn't it sad? We both understand the reasons behind our actions but I can't help but think that there's already a crack somewhere here." Ran clutched her chest. "Are we going to be okay?"

Shinichi chuckled making Ran feel puzzled. "Baro."

"Eh?"

"Do you know Ran? There's a method of repairing century-old pottery called _kintsugi_ meaning 'golden joinery'. It uses a special type of lacquer dusted with gold, silver or platinum making the end result more unique and beautiful than the original appearance of the pottery." Shinichi smiled warmly at the curious girl.

"I would like to compare our relationship to that. Even though we are in constant times of trouble, we always find a way to be better, right? And this... what this lie did to us was no joke. We were both changed by this unfortunate circumstance; You learned how to live without my constant presence and I learned how to be dependent on people. Maybe we needed this for us to grow as individual people. But now that we are on equal footing again, we can work together to repair our cracked bonds. Since we are the improved versions of our past selves— _although please excuse my current appearance_ — _I think we'll be okay, Ran._ It will take time, but _we will._ As I've said before, we can't go back before this all happened but we have the power to choose what we will be in the future. And you told me that you only wanted to be by my side no matter what, right? That's the same for me and don't you ever forget that. I didn't want to leave the one I wanted to be with alone."

"Shinichi..."

Shinichi kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry that we kept the truth from you back then but I love you so much and I'll never let you go.W-well unless you changed your mind..."

Ran shook her head furiously. "I only want you so I won't let go either!"

"G-good..." They both flushed. "Now, let's wipe your tears properly now eh? Wait, I'll get you a handkerchief." Conan stood up and went to Ran's dresser to get one. He was startled at Ran's sudden exclamation though.

"Yosh! I think I know what I'll do when you get your body back."

 _'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?'_

"And what will it be, Ran?"

"I'll make you my punching bag in one of my practices!" Ran chirped.

 _'Aha..haha. As I've thought...'_

Shinichi closed his eyes and sighed in defeat. She deserves it anyway. "Hai, hai. Whatever you want, Miss Karate Champion."

Ran grinned. "But for now, I think we both need a hug."

"That, I definitely agree."

Ran picked the miniature-sized Shinichi up and hugged him tightly.

"Ran?"

"Hmm...?"

"Will you hear me out once again?"

"What is it?"

"I wanted to tell you the whole truth before your birthday Ran but you found out most of it and rest I will tell you as I had planned."

"Good night"

Good night shin-Conan kun said Ran.

The days went by faster than expected.

Shinichi spent time with Agasa's house, along with Haibara and Subaru.

Luck was on his side and few week ago Haibara returned to normal in the expected time. Shinichi now expected the same thing to happen with him.

They would wait for the prototype's effect to pass and when they returned from Osaka, they intended to carry out their plan to end the organization permanently.

He did not let the little scientist interfere in his relationship with Ran. He had explained his firm decision to tell her the truth.

To her surprise, she no longer objected, she only made him promise to tell her what was necessary, nothing that could put her in danger.

Haibara could not refuse to see him so excited. Her happiness at the idea of being able to return to her original form was too obvious. Ran was a lucky woman, even though she did not know it yet.

He felt that after all the trouble he had caused them, it was the least he could do for his platonic love.

Subaru had promised to stay alert. I would ask FBI agents to protect the couple.

Of course Shinichi was not aware of that.

...

Ran on the other hand was spent locked in his house or Sonoko preparing for the end of year exams. Sera Masumi accompanied them.

The girls were more than pleased with his presence; since Shinichi was not helping them, she was a good replacement with her intelligence.

...

Two days before the planned trip, everything began.

Surprisingly Kogoro had won one of his bets, a trip all paid for Hawaii.

Ran had finally had to confess everything to Sonoko. She would have to serve as a screen in case her father dared to come back early. As a secret, Shinichi had confessed that his parents had also obtained the same trip to his mother, Eri.

At first her father hesitated to leave her alone, but as Ran explained that she would spend time at her friend's house, she did not hesitate; He made a small suitcase and left.

...

Conan for his part also to do his performance.

The day before Mouri's departure, Yukiko Kudo appeared disguised as the alleged mother of the child.

His enthusiasm and exaltation to thank him for the care of his son, surprised Ran; the last time she had seen Mrs. Edogawa, she had seemed a somewhat serious person.

\- Ran nee-chan, do not worry about me. Take good care of yourself and send your regards to Shinichi nee-chan on my behalf, please.

Conan had also simulated great enthusiasm at seeing his mother. I did not want Ran to think about farewells.

To his astonishment he took it quite well. He knew he could not object to the boy leaving.

I was going to miss him, but at least I would have the maniac by his side a few days, I would not be alone.

He smiled thinking about that.

\- Do not worry Conan-kun. I'll be fine, just try to have fun, okay? See you soon

She could not prevent her eyes from getting wet, so that (so he would not see her) she crouched down to his height and hugged him.

\- We'll see you around, I'll miss you.

\- I also nee chan.

...

As soon as Conan and his mother left, Ran was finally able to think quietly.

Shinichi had already sent him his ticket for the next day. As planned, they were to meet at the London Airport.

I had not given him more explanations.

Now what he had left was to pack his things. She did not want to do it before for fear that Conan could see the daring clothes that Sonoko had given her.

She blushed at the thought.

I did not know if I would wear that lingerie, or those little bikinis in front of t Shinichi but nothing was lost in wearing it.

 _Osaka City_

-Kazuha -chan hurry up. How long are you, woman?

Hattori Heiji was more than impatient.

I had planned to get home early, but because of that girl was delaying.

\- Wait for me, idiot. What's happened to you lately? -Kazuha Tomoya already out of breath ran to his friend's bike - Hey, hey, that you finished half an hour before the math exam, does not mean that we are all stupid geniuses like you. Like any other, it took me more time, idiot.

Muttering things without meaning, and complaining settled into the vehicle.

\- But you will be silly. Not that it was so complicated. Hold on tight.

Both went off and in a few seconds they were circulating through the main streets of the city.

\- Hey Heiji, you do not fool me. I know you have something in hand. Do not you want to tell me? You know I could find out.

She, held tightly to his warm back, felt him sigh resigned.

When they finally parked in the house of the famous detective, he turned to look at her.

\- It's okay, it's fine. I'll tell you, you could also help me.

\- Help me?

\- Yes, what you hear, silly. I have to tell my mom to let me use the biggest guest room, you know ... the marriage room.

He did not know why he blushed so much when he said that.

That Kudo was a pervert ...

Kazuha did not understand anything.

\- Why that room? Who are you thinking of bringing? I do not know anyone who ..

\- Silly, of course I do. Who else do you think about? It will be for our friends from Tokyo, Kudo and his fiancée ...

\- WHAT?

They could not be, if that were true, Ran-chan would have said something, right?

Maybe Heiji was just playing with her.

With that Shinichi was engaged to another woman.

Your friend had to know.

The detective, on the other hand, was regretting having told him that secret, now he had to get him to keep it for a while.

Kudo would kill him.

Shinichi never imagined the pain that caused him to transform with the new prototype of the antidote.

In those days he was in his parents' mansion in London.

He had never noticed his mother so frightened, he felt her come and go through the room, while she saw him suffer, suffering spasms while his body was growing painfully.

\- Yusaku, I do not know how you can be so calm. Do not you see how our little Shin-chan suffers?

The great writer for his part was reclining in an armchair reading the news. He just looked at her from behind his huge glasses.

-Don't worry, Yukiko. Trust the little Haibara, I'm sure it's all right ...

\- But I cannot believe you're there doing nothing, just waiting.

\- Hey, listen ... Do you never get tired of fighting?

They both turned around quickly as he watched his son slowly sit up.

He still looked pale; he looked at them with tired eyes.

\- How am I supposed to recover with your screams?

Her mother rushed to hug him tightly while her father winked at her from a distance. Shinichi smiled at him in response.

\- Oh, Shin-chan, it's good that you're fine. You do not know how worried I was for you ...

\- Ya, and Mama. - He gave him a clumsy tap on the back. Thanks for worrying, seriously but I'm fine. It's over, leave the drama

\- But I'm so glad ... You have to celebrate that everything went well - he turned away from his son and noticed how he watched her with some annoyance -. But what face is young! I think I know where you got that character so inexpressive. I do not know how Ran can be so in love with you.

Her son blushed at his words and she smiled satisfied

-Yeah, mom. Let me. He pushed her away gently and sat up from the bed.

He still felt pain throughout his body but he supposed it was normal; now he had no time to lose.

Ran would arrive the next day. His life depended on that night, and on Sunday ...

... ...

I was anxious, too.

Sonoko had offered to accompany her to the airport with Sera.

The two girls did not stop giving hints about their encounter with Shinichi.

The daring of her best friend had demanded that she not think about returning without her husband.

She had pretended to be upset as always, but now that she was alone, she missed them, needed her company to distract herself and not get more nervous than she already was.

I did not know what was waiting for him.

She hoped that Shinichi would not abandon her for case as he had promised. He expected everything to return to normal, as if he had never fled from her side.

He would arrive in London around seven o'clock in the afternoon, twelve hours awaiting him on a trip.

Now that she was so close to her dream, to see her friend again, there was nothing she could do to back out.

She sighed and prepared to read a magazine that he had bought at the last moment before leaving. Nothing better than that to distract her

... ...

I was nervous.

Thinking about Ran was the only thing that made him lose his mind.

In three more hours she would be by his side and felt a certain fear. Yes, fear that things would not work as he expected.

He trusted that his friend would forgive him for everything he had suffered him even though he knew he did not deserve it.

After becoming a child, he had gone through so many dangers that all he asked for was a time of peace. He wanted time to spend with his friends, with his family, with Ran ...

He smiled at the thought of what Heiji would say if he heard those thoughts; He would obviously laugh at him.

He would already take revenge on all his jokes as soon as he was in Osaka.

That encouraged him a bit, as he prepared the suitcases that he would send to the Hotel where he would stay with Ran. As much as his mother had insisted, it would be a torture to spend the days in his parents' mansion.

What he had not been able to refuse was to spend a day on the family yacht for the Tamesis, it sure would be fun.

For the only thing that had been was for the pool ...

Now, it was final.

I had no escape.

Shinichi should be waiting for her, in those moments.

He had already sent a message as soon as he landed. His friend did not answer, she supposed it was really stupid to answer him, when in a few seconds she could do it in person.

She took a deep breath and headed for the exit.

It was not expected.

She saw it.

She went to the first person he noticed as soon as he made the last turn down the corridor.

Shinichi, his Shinichi, so tall, so handsome.

He was dressed in a black T-shirt, a blue shirt on top and jeans.

No matter how casual her air would be, she felt a little sad to remember that she had only traveled in her simple purple dress. How silly she had been to think that wearing it again, maybe for him it would not mean anything to see her dressed like the last time they had met ...

However, all those thoughts were erased at once as soon as their eyes met.

Shinichi just raised his eyes and met his tormented gaze.

And he smiled.

That smile was more than anything.

Ran to see her, felt an immediate tranquility. His friend, his best friend, the love of his life was back with her, it was real, it was in front of her.

And apparently I was happy to see her.

She did not think about anything else: she let go the cart that contained her suitcase and pounced on him.

She wanted to hug him, she wanted Shinichi to hold her too, and tell her that he would never leave her again.

Apparently he immediately noticed her intentions because he also approached her and caught her in his arms.

\- Oh, Shinichi ... Shinichi ... I missed you so much ...- She could not help it, tears started running down her face.

He pressed closer to his chest, it was so warm ...

\- Shhhh, quiet Ran, I'm already here - he hugged her harder and rested his face on his head -. Do not cry more love, everything is fine now. I'm with you again.

She took a few more minutes to enjoy the moment and then raised her head to watch him.

His blue eyes were reflected in his.

They blushed, but shyly she reached up and caressed his cheek.

\- You promise? Do you promise that you'll stay with me from now on never leave without telling?

Ran expected him to hesitate, even for a second, or try to change the subject as he always did but not.

Shinichi (very determined), took her hand and brought it to his lips where he gave her a soft kiss.

\- Silly, is it that I did not promise you before? - He smiled to give him more confidence. I told you that while we are together I would not separate you from my side.

She finally smiled at him, happy.

His childhood friend was back.

They stood for a while watching themselves blushing, the feelings of both were reflected in his eyes.

Shinichi was still holding her waist. If that were not the case, the imprudent girl who stepped behind Ran and pushed her, would have thrown her to the ground.

Unconsciously she clung to her chest harder, but in the same way the moment had been ruined, they had to continue.

I wait a few seconds and turned away from Shinichi, not wanting to.

\- Are you okay? - seeing that she was nodding slightly, he took her hand and led her to where his car had gone with the suitcase - I think we should leave, and get out of the way before someone else runs over us.

Ran nodded and let himself be led to the exit, still feeling trance, not knowing what else to say.

When he saw that they were heading towards the taxi stand, he ventured.

\- Shinichi ... uh ... can you know where we're going?

He turned to look at her, and she noticed a little nervous, seeing that her hair was messing

\- Well, I had thought we should go to the Hotel. You think? I would like you to rest for a while after so much travel, you could take a bath if you want.

She smiled tenderly at his concern

\- To the hotel? Did you make them reserve one? I thought we would stay in the house that your parents have here.

Without waiting for it, Shinichi laughed

\- Oh, no. Seriously, you will not want to put up with my mother now. I was too excited with your arrival, although I suppose we can see them one of these days. My mother invited us to walk through the Tamesis. If you want we could accept your offer ...

\- Really? - Ran could not help it and opened his eyes to the maximum with emotion - I would love it!

Suddenly he stopped.

\- But seriously Shinichi, is it okay to come as a guest ?. I mean ... I could pay ...

He looked at her, also touching her worried face and smiled at her.

\- Silly, do not worry about anything. Feel it as a gift from me and my parents. Besides, I already told you, they owe me a lot of favors ... "He sighed. You know, I do not have everything planned either, I thought that if everything went well we could go seeing day by day what we would like to do. I have some ideas, but I was thinking about consulting you beforehand.

\- Okay, I guess I'll have to thank them as soon as I see them ... But tell me, what do you mean, if everything goes well?

His nervousness became more evident to him.

\- Mmm then. Ran the truth is that before we continue with all this, there are things that I would like to tell you - he blushed - I could not feel calm if I do not. I'd like to clarify some things for you. "He cleared his throat. If after listening to me you decide to leave, I am sure that I will understand.

Ran thought for a moment about his words. What would Shinichi be saying? Did he plan to tell him everything about his disappearance? How bad could that be? Also, why are you blushing?

\- Shinichi ... The truth is that I'm a little confused with all this. But okay, you're right, I guess we owe a talk, do not you think? - He could not help it and he also became like a tomato.

Luckily, they were interrupted by the miraculous arrival of a taxi. They did not know how to continue.

Both were dying of shame, which, (Ran thought) was totally ridiculous.

What she did not expect was where they ended up.

I did not know much, but I was more than sure that they were in front of a five-star Hotel. How had Yukiko dared to spend so much? Ran would not be surprised if he had to share the room with Shinichi.

Luckily it was not like that but almost.

He could not hide his astonishment when his friend asked for the reservation in his name and they were informed that the Royal Suite was already at his disposal.

A suite? Only for them?

When he wanted to tell him something, he just shrugged. He supposed there was no way to change his mother's mind.

It was a huge room, with two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a huge dining room. From the balcony you could see beautiful gardens.

\- I think it's enough space, do not you think? - They both smiled - Okay, why do not you choose your bedroom? Then you can rest. If you want I can ask for dinner and then we talk.

Ran just nodded, spending time alone would be more than good. I needed to accommodate your ideas.

Without thinking much he took his things and went to the bedroom on the left.

He threw himself on the bed in ecstasy.

Oh, God, at last. Shinichi had returned!

He did not know what he was bringing up in his mind, but he did not think it was anything he could not forgive. He had waited so long to see him again that he did not want to ruin the moment.

Also, I did not forget that I still owed him a few strokes of karate, but I did not think about that now.

...

It had been an hour since Ran had locked herself up.

He knew he should give it her space, but he could not resist.

He came over to knock on the door, to announce that they had brought dinner and he smiled relieved when she answered him right away that she would leave.

He could not help but open his eyes to the maximum when he saw her.

She was beautiful, she had changed her dress for another green sleeveless bottle that was loose on her slender body. she had also put on makeup and his eyes stood out more.

He, too, had exchanged In black suit with a burgundy shirt and a black tie, but he felt untidy buying her with his loose tie.

\- You're ... beautiful Ran, did I miss something? - He approached and took her hands -. Easy, you are with me.

\- I ... I did not know what to wear so I chose this. - She turned around - I do not know if it's okay but you're not bad either.

He smiled to give her confidence, noticing her trembling.

He could control his nervousness but he wanted her to relax as well.

\- What's wrong, huh? - I wink an eye, making her laugh - Come, let's sit down.

He took his time explaining the dishes he had ordered, some of the meat pies that he had been assured were among the best.

During the dinner they talked about unimportant topics.

Of the last thing they had done in those days, and how their parents were doing. Neither wanted to take very personal issues, not yet.

When Ran finished his favorite dessert. Shinichi thought it was time.

He straightened in his chair, and took a glass of water, trying to give himself courage.

... ..

Ran also felt that the moment had finally arrived.

He sighed when he got up from the table and without saying any more words he held out his hand. She let him take her to the couch where he had her sit.

As he began to spin around, it was as if suddenly fear, or anxiety, had attacked him.

\- Shinichi, are you okay? If you want we can leave all this for another day ... sure you are also tired and ...

\- No, Ran, do not worry, I'm fine. I must do it - he turned around and faced her - I have wanted to tell you this for a long time.

Ran blushed at his gaze.

\- From ... Okay, but why do not you sit next to me? It makes me nervous to see you spinning around

This time it was she who took his hand and made him sit next to her ...

He smiled weakly.

\- With that I make you nervous ... - Unable to resist, he stroked her cheek gently.

They were so close that none could avoid getting red

\- Enough Shinichi, do not make fun of me. - she was too nervous she moved slightly away.

\- Ok, it's that I ... I'm sorry. - He also left a few seconds and sighed long - I ... well you could say I had a script prepared, but being here distracts me. You distract me a lot, Ran. I cannot concentrate with you.

Ran did not expect that, his intense gaze.

Her first reaction was sudden fury.

\- What? What do you mean by that? Are you telling me that I bother you? I'm sorry, you would have said it from the beginning and ... "She made a move to get up but he stopped her by grabbing her arm.

\- I'm sorry, that's not what I meant ... Quiet, Silly ... No ... It's not that. You would never be a nuisance to me. - She turned back to accommodate and saw how he rubbed his face. - Rays Why do I always get everything wrong?

He looked so pretty blushed.

\- But ... You said it once. The last one that we were here you said that it was a very complicated case and that ...

\- Yes, I know what I said. And apparently you also remember my words well, yes?

Ran's heart began to accelerate as he took her hands again.

\- Ran, I'm sorry, what I want to say is that ... - He paused and she was reflected in his eyes -. I want to make this clear, first of all, honey. What I want to tell you is that everything you heard me say here in London is true. You ... I like you very much, Ran. - He smiled slightly, stopped again and shook his head -. No, it's not that either. I really am completely in love with you, Ran. I love you so much that every time you are by my side, I become a complete idiot. You always occupy my thoughts; You will always be the girl I love the most, Ran. It was always you, my first love ... Rays, I've loved you for so long and you are my Irene Adler...

...

She was silent for a few seconds, red as she could not, watching as he also looked embarrassed.

He had looked down at his hands, which he caressed absently.

He looked so cute.

Shinichi loved her, and apparently the same way she did to him.

How could she have ever doubted about his feelings?

He had not been very clear either, but in the same way ...

Ran felt he had to answer, this was, (if you could consider it), the second time that Shinichi was confessed. It was his turn now.

He took her face in his hands, and lifted it up so that he could observe it.

She took pity on him and smiled at him.

\- Shinichi ... I'm so happy myself ... - Rays, now I understood why it had cost him so much to confess.

I wish it was that easy.

He took a deep breath, and wanted to continue, but I was interrupted with a finger on his lips.

\- You do not have to say anything, Ran, I know. I know what you feel.

Instead of feeling angry, she noticed his tormented gaze and worried.

\- Sorry Ran, I know it's not what you expected, but I have to tell you something. I hope you can forgive me again after this, and that you believe that my love for you is completely sincere. Everything I did was to protect you. "He sighed and watched her face of confusion, it was now or never.

\- I know what you feel for me, because you told me before. In fact, you were the first to confess ... I ... I never left you, Ran, I was always by your side. Damn, what I want to say, is that I became Conan ...while someone was trying to kill me.

Ran did not react, it was as if time had stopped at that moment.

\- What? What are you saying Shinichi? - When she finally could react, tried to get up but he stopped him

When he noticed it looking at him so seriously, he knew it was not.

He could not help it and a hysterical laugh started to come from his lips.

\- This has to be one of your jokes, Shinichi. It cannot be true, you cannot ruin the happiest moment of my life like this ... I cannot believe ... - I cannot contain myself and the tears began to slide down his eyes.

The sight of her anguish finally released her.

\- I wish it were that way, Ran, but no. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You have to listen to me, please.

She stopped and jumped and went to the other end of the room. I needed to think, and I could not with him so close.

\- No ... you cannot be killed ... that's impossible. who would do that? As you might? I mean ... All this time you were again cheating me? Why do not you tell this important thing me before? You once again lied to me. You promised me to tell everything that was important. What about that promise? You think an attempt to murder you is not important? You lied again.

She looked at him, furious, although she was also sad, felt something inside.

How was it possible that minutes before she had been so happy?

Shinichi had ruined everything.

\- I promise to explain everything to you. I promised to tell you when time is right and today is the time when you should know everything .If you let me ...

\- Oh, do not you dare talk to me again Shinichi Kudo. In these moments, I feel that you have betrayed me again ... At least I thought you will keep your no lies promise to me.

He also got up and tried to approach her but left.

Sigh

\- I'm sorry, I know I've ruined the moment, but I could not be so hypocritical, of wanting to fix our situation when I still had this secret.

"I will start from the beginning. Remember when we went to Tropical Land to celebrate your win at your karate tournament? I ran off to chase those suspicious men in black that we had seen in the roller coaster murder case. I saw one of them making an illegal money transaction. I was so focused on watching it, that I completely forgot about the second man. He hit me over the head from behind, and they fed me some untested prototype drug. It was supposed to kill me. According to them, I am still dead. Luckily none of them know about this side effect." Shinichi gestured to his body, giving a small, sad laugh. "This would never have happened if I had just realized that I was being an over-confident jerk and realized that I wasn't immortal, and that there were lots of risks doing what I do. It was only after I had lost everything, after I lost you, that I realized everything that was truly important to me." Shinichi paused for a while, thinking of what to say next, and letting everything he had said sink in for Ran.

"I thought I was going to die. When they forced me to take the poison, a terrible pain that burned ripped through my body. It felt like someone was burning me to death from the inside out. I woke up, barely believing I was alive. I didn't even notice that I had shrunk until I saw myself in the reflection of a shop window. I panicked, and ran to my house, finding of course that I couldn't reach the handle. Luckily, Agasa-hakase was just arriving next door, and after managing to convince him, he told me that I shouldn't let you know the truth. He said that if the men in black found me alive, they would kill you too if they thought you knew anything. I believed what he said, as I was quite out of it, and then you came in suddenly. I grabbed my dad's glasses from the draw, popped out the lenses and invented a name on the spot. If I had been thinking properly at the time, I might have just told you, and this whole situation could have been avoided." Shinichi sighed.

All this time you made me think " you were cheating on me. Conan was not some kind of spy you sent to take care of me. I knew it. I had doubted it from the day I have seen you without glasses but your life was in danger, you are supposed to be dead, I thought it was only rumor ,I never knew that. "

Ran knelt and grabbed his face with his hands.

I always trusted you, and all the time you should have laughed at how silly I am, is not it? - She raised her face and looked at him with teary eyes - You knew how worried I was for you all the time and you did not do anything.

Shinichi thought for a moment, his look also reflected anguish and sadness.

I hated what I was doing, I did not think to back down, but God, I hated so much watching her cry like that.

He knelt beside her, despite her protests and grabbed her by the arms.

Ran tried to break free, hitting her, (hard goals) but he could control her and pulled her to his chest and held her tight.

(Inwardly he thanked the brief but efficient defense classes his father had taught him.)

He did not let her move a millimeter.

Still kneeling, he stroked her hair and whispered in her ear as she continued to cry.

\- Shh ... Ran. I know what this must have meant to you but you have to listen to me, okay?

The minutes became eternal, while Shinichi waited for his breathing to normalize.

When he felt that this was happening, he ventured to lift her face with one hand and look at her.

His eyes still looked watery and his face was flushed; he stayed for a few seconds looking at his swollen and wet lips.

Drink.

\- You have to listen to me, Ran, if there was something I could do to avoid all this, I would do it but it would not seem fair either. I love you, I did everything to protect you ...

\- To protect me from what? And what about your protection? You have no excuse. You do not know everything that I suffered for you. "Tears appeared again.

How should you laugh at me the day I confessed my feelings, thinking you were a little innocent! - Suddenly Conan's memories came to her and she blushed. Oh no I totally forgot all this time - You're a pervert! You even let me bathe with you many times! You slept with me! You saw me naked .

She concentrated all his strength on a fist that crashed into Shinichi's face.

She saw him sprawl on the floor, holding his face in his hands.

Shinichi took a few seconds to react, a little dizzy. He could not help it and smiled faintly turning to look at her.

\- Shit Ran, you're good, that hurt. But I guess I deserved it ... you should hit me more as much as you have shed tears because of me.

She did not know why his smile made her lower her defenses.

\- You're an idiot Shinichi Kudo.

He could see that she was loosening his anger and took advantage of the situation.

\- Yes, I know I'm an idiot ... But another thing I do know, is that you love me ...

Ran could not help it, she blushed.

\- I already told you not to mock me!

She pounced on the floor again, but he was faster. He grabbed her around the waist and laid her on the carpet ... To immobilize her, he straddled her and held her hands above his head.

Ran tried to break free. He began to feel Shinichi's sweet breath, as he brought his face closer to hers.

\- Ya, let go ...

\- No, I will not. - Shinichi also blushed at the closeness but did not flinch - I'll never let you go, I want you to always stay by my side. Because I love you. And I want you to understand.

His blue eyes were reflected in his. It was so close, so tempting.

At last it was decided and separated the distance between them.

He rested his lips on hers.

The insecurity of the two was noticed, while the trembling lips joined together.

Ran's were moist and soft; Shinichi could not help but deepen the kiss a little and smiled as he felt as she began to respond timidly.

He also noticed that her arms began to relax little by little.

His reaction took her by surprise.

As soon as she was free, he launched himself at her neck to bring her closer.

That made him stay totally on top of her.

...

I could not believe what was happening.

Shinichi was kissing her!

After so much time…

She did not want to let him go either, she did not care if her actions were not right.

When he could free his arms and surrounded him with them. He took her face in his hands, still not releasing his lips from his.

Apparently he was not in any hurry to separate.

The lack of air, made Shinichi began to move away, not without leaving soft traces of kisses all over his face.

He chuckled softly when he saw that she was still completely red with her eyelids still closed. He urged her to open them also with more tender kisses

He ran his face with soft hands.

\- Ya, sleeping beauty. I think you can open your eyes.

He smiled happily, seeing how she denied and tried to cover herself with her hands.

She looked very tender like that.

\- No, I do not want to. Surely this is a dream and it is too good to wake up.

\- A dream? - Shinichi laughed again - Yes you're right, but it's weird, do not you think? It is also the best he has ever had.

At last he succeeded and he was able to observe his sweet blue eyes again.

She wanted to give him some space, and started to walk away, but she hugged him again.

Now she was in a semi-sitting position.

\- No, I do not want you to leave me - she pressed her face against his warm chest -. Hopefully this is not a dream, because I hope to be able to tell you everything I have in my heart, I do not care what I said before, it is not the same - he raised his face and looked more blushed than ever -. I do not know what are the causes that led you to become Conan but you still never left my side. Actually, you never left me, Shinichi. If you were in danger you could have gone somewhere else but you stayed ... That ... that means a lot to me. I…. - He looked at his eyes and saw that there was no ridicule in them, he felt he could do it - It is half foolish to say it now, I know, but I also love you Shinichi Kudo. I love you, I have also loved you for so long that I do not even remember it - suddenly she grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt and put his face close to the one who was also looking at her shyly. You have to know that I will never, never let you escape, and that if something happens I will always wait for you. Whatever happens . Now you have grown up again then get ready because I'm going to charge you for everything you've made me suffer, my maniac and foolish detective.

This time it was she who joined her lips, smiling .As much as they had many things to talk about, both now felt happier than ever.

All you could hear was the soft sound of their kisses and the little loving whispers Shinichi could make while they took a few seconds to breathe.

\- You know Ran, I never thought you were so addictive - he gave her soft kisses on the cheek that made her smile.

\- You're a pervert, Kudo. But I like it, you know, to tell me that. I never thought you were so corny.

That made him laugh. He took the rest in his hands.

\- With what corny eh? Is there any way you would like me to call you?

\- Well, tell me I do not know ... My love?

Both blushed but smiled.

\- Look who's talking about being so corny ...

\- Ya, do not make fun of me. You asked yourself - by being offended, she tried to push Shinichi away but he did not let her.

\- I love you.

-Yes, I know.

-Ah, now you know that, huh? You are stubborn when you want.

\- Hey, do not make fun of me. Besides, I could not have doubted it after everything you did to me ...

Soon Shinichi's face darkened.

As I can, she untangled herself from Ran and helped her stand up.

Shinichi walked towards the balcony with his back to her, but she followed him.

She noticed the change and tried to calm him down: she took his face in her hands.

\- Shinichi, please, do not let the past ruin our lives, okay? We have to forget everything and be happy - he paused and looked at him with frown - Also if you do not want to hit you again you have to stop ruining these moments Kudo. I'm thinking that really for these things of romance you do not serve ...

He watched her for a few seconds and his expression softened with a smile.

\- Hey, you were the one you started. How do you want me not to react? - He took her hands, kissed them and guided her from the new to the sofa.

\- I also want everything to return to normal, as if nothing had happened, but until I solve what I have pending, it will not be all that easy. Besides, I really want to tell you what happened to me. I would not like to be in debt to you for that. Is that okay?

Shinichi was serious again, so Ran nodded. Besides, she was also curious about how he had managed to become that sweet little Conan.

\- Good. I guess you always want to know is that it happens to me, is not it? How do I become Conan?

\- What do you become? That means you still ...

-Yes, Ran. I ... we are still in the process of finding the permanent antidote. I am afraid that I will transform again as soon as our vacation ends.

\- Antidote? I do not understand...

Shinichi gently put a finger to his lips.

\- Silly, let me finish, okay?

In spite of everything he smiled at him again so he tried to calm down.

\- Well, again. You have to know how everything started. - He sighed and took a few seconds before continuing -. Remember the day I "disappeared" is not it? It was the day we went to the Tropical Land when it all started ...

For the next fifteen minutes it was only the Shinichi voice that was heard.

He told him all he could, the story of Haibara (that revelation was left by the frost), but he left out several details about the organization and unimportant things, like that he was really the mastermind behind "Kogoro the sleeper"

He supposed that she would be alone of that and they would discuss it in the moment.

When he finished she just stared at him.

\- Are you okay, Ran? I know it's not easy to absorb so much information but ...

Ran just closed his eyes for a few seconds and sighed.

When he finally opened them again he noticed his anguish.

\- So ... Is it very painful every time it turns you? How could you handle something like that? Every time we saw each other, were you suffering?

He took a few seconds away from his eyes, suddenly feeling sick.

Shinichi was surprised that she had cared about that detail; I hug her.

-Sh ... Ran, do not worry. I'm fine, you can see me - he timidly took her hand and put it on his heart causing her to blush) -. I'm healthy and strong. The pain ... it's only temporary. It was you who gave me the strength to bear that pain, meeting with you was my only motive , no pain can ruin it. The previous prototypes of the antidote did not last too long, that's why I felt bad every time we saw each other. But it only appears when I'm about to convert, which is a good warning sign. You do not have to worry about that, really. you are better? - He lifted her face and watched her closely.

They both knew he could not lie to her.

When I become Conan ... I do not know how to explain it to you ... .. I have my heart beating so fast that sometimes I feel that it will explode and I'm so hot ... that makes bizard ... as if my bones ... .ma columns were melting. And then I faint and I find myself in my clothes too big.

Shinichi looked at Ran and saw that she was trembling with fear. He laughed his arm behind his head, embarrassed to have put it in this state.

Why ... ..you wanted to become yourself again if you suffered so much? Especially for the short time that I saw you?

\- But do not worry. When I'm awake, I do not feel anything. I am doing very well.

You have not answered the question I asked you before. Why did you want to go back to being yourself each time you suffered?

Shinichi thought back to the question. He had to answer him. During all the time he was Conan he wanted to tell him. He took his courage in both hands and answered him.

\- Already because ... I wanted to become myself again. I wanted to become the detective again, that we listen. Return to high school and the most talented football player in my class. All these things that I miss.

Moment of silence

\- But also ... to be able to say in my mouth and not that of Conan ... that I apologize for these absences and that I wanted you to wait for me ... because that ...

Moment of silence

\- …because…

Ran watched her. The young woman's heart began to beat in her chest.

\- You are the person I love most in this world Ran!

On the revelation, Ran did not know what to say. His heart beat faster than ever.

\- It's strange but every time I wanted to tell you, I became Conan again. As if ... ..as if ... .the destiny said that it was not the right moment.

Shinichi looked at her with her sapphire eyes.

\- But today, I managed to tell you. I love you Ran!

\- Shinichi ...

She turned red and showed a huge smile. Tears of joy fell on her cheeks.

\- I was hoping so much that day is coming. The day I can tell you also that I love you Shinichi!

Ran ...

"Is it so bad for you to become Conan?" She asked, putting her hand on his arm.

"Yes, of course," Shinichi answered in a slightly louder voice, shaking off her hand and propping his elbows on his knees. "For me, it's the end of the world, it had destroyed my lifelong dream, but ... but I'm not going to blame you decisions.

This statement irritated Ran.

"I'm supposed to have destroyed your lifelong dream?" She wondered. "But what does your dream of becoming a world-famous detective have to do with me and my decisions?"

Shinichi looked up, tears glistening in his eyes. It was a sight Ran had seen only a few times with him. He was about to cry.

"I'll tell you a long-kept secret," Shinichi said, his voice cracking and running his hand over his face. Ran did not reply, but she signaled that she promised not to tell anyone. Shinichi lowered his head and began to speak. "You know, it was my dream to become a famous detective, but that was only second, and compared to my true lifelong dream, that's nothing."

"What is it?"

Ran dropped his jaw in astonishment and overwhelm, but she did not reply. Thus, she facilitated Shinichi to continue without loss of voice.

"God knows, there are more romantic places than this room, but ..."

He looked at her, looking deep into her ocean blue eyes, and his next words testified to the tremendous love he felt for Ran. "Ran, I ... I wanted to ask you, when we're of age, to become my wife, I wanted to marry you and start a family with you, I wanted kids with you, I wanted to grow old with you ..."

Ran, meanwhile, still could not believe what Shinichi had just said. Her voice was only a soft whisper.

"You wanted to marry me and have children with me?"

She was perplexed and completely surprised. "Honestly?"

"Of course," Shinichi replied, tears running down his cheeks again. "I love you since we met for the first time, and I cannot imagine marrying anyone else, I swore that if we both did not marry ... then I will not marry at all. I'll stick with you for the rest of my life, you know, Ran

Ran sighed, then slid close to him.

"Can you keep a secret for yourself?" She asked, looking at him seriously.

"Sure, I can do that, you know me," he answered, not knowing what her question was about.

" you know two things made me more angry" Ran said. What asked Shinichi.

"firstly onetime you made me think I had become pedophile when I thought I started to like Conan, my feelings could make me child molester and dreamt about having dates and kisses with Conan, but now I know what dream actually was meaning. Secondly you were hurting very much but don't dare to speak with me."

Shinichi's eyes widened as Ran nodded and began to smile.

"Yes, but ..." She looked at him urgently. "Shinichi, you have to promise me something, it's very important to me for our dream, okay? Please."

"Everything you want."

Ran cleared his throat.

"I do not know how to start ..."

"Just say it."

Ran cleared his throat again and looked up at him.

"You know that I do not like women who want to change their friends or men."

"Yeah, you mentioned that," Shinichi said thoughtfully, waiting for more. "And?"

"Well ... In that case I have to be such a woman."

"I hear?"

Ran gave himself a jerk.

"Shinichi, please promise me you always take care of yourself, do not take dangerous cases anymore, screw back, I want my children to have a father for as long as possible, I do not want to go with them one day before yours Grave, that would break my heart, you live dangerously, and that's why I'm always worried about you, you know that. "

"Okay," Shinichi said sympathetically, adding two questions. "But what does 'children' mean, do you want many?"

Ran blushed slightly.

I would like to have several children, a big family would be nice, I always envied the children who had siblings, and I still do today. My children should get to know this feeling, that would really be a dream of me."

"You mean our children," Shinichi corrected her and smiled. "You will definitely be a good mother."

"And you a great dad, and I'm really looking forward to being the mother of your kids," Ran added, mumbling, before she snuggled up to Shinichi and spread silence in the living room.

They took each other in their arms and hugged each other tightly.

\- Now I feel a little better, since you told me. I understand much better what was your reason for not having said anything at the beginning although I still would have liked to know it. I mean ... do friends tell each other, do not they? At first it hurt because I thought you did not trust me, but now I see you do it - suddenly seemed to remember something and stared at him, Shinichi was soon scared by his reaction -. What I cannot believe about you Kudo is how incredibly perverted you are. You did not dare to tell me the truth but you did not oppose anything to see me naked, or to sleep with me Idiot!

Before she was finished he was already moving away from her, he could not help but smile.

\- Hey, Ran, do not be like that. To be honest, Firstly I tried to resist but you forced me. Also you cannot deny that sleeping with me you did not like ...And if you have doubt my identity then why did you do those thing with me , I believe you wanted to do with me whether I am shinichi or Conan…

She had to chase him for several minutes until he finally gave up.

\- I'm sorry Ran, I forgot those details. I know I deserve it, but please, have mercy on me. Beside sleeping along with you made me calm and free from nightmares.

He looked at the ridiculous position they were facing around the month and Shinichi waving his arms in front of him in an attempt to protect himself.

She sighed trying not to seem affected.

\- You will pay dearly for that Kudo, that does not forget me.

He saw that she was trying to hide a smile and smiled in return.

\- I'll do what you want, I promise.

Ran did not miss that opportunity; Shinichi was not going to be able to refuse.

\- All right, then he just promises that you'll let him be with you the day they end up with the Organization. I would like to retaliate with those ill-born. Besides, they are to blame for all this stupid situation.

\- What? I will not do that ... I told you that this is very dangerous.

Ran slowly moved closer to his side.

\- Well, think about it, Shinichi, because I already told you that nothing and no one else would take me away from you. I do not care about the danger, I just want to be by your side - she blushed when she had face to face - Of course, as long as you love me too.

He smiled

\- It's not that I don't love you Ran, I love you. He pulled her close and kissed her softly. Then we will discuss this, when it is time. But you have to know that these days are just for us, I promised, remember?

\- You will not leave without telling me? I want you to be always with me, at all times. I know I'm being selfish but ...

She looked down in embarrassment and tried to lower the arms that had encircled Shinichi's neck but he stopped her.

\- I know, I understand, you do not have to say anything else. I promise to warn you of what you do, according to what you allow me, remember that not only my life is in danger.

Both kissed again softly for a moment.

In the end, she raised her blushed head.

"I love you, my maniac detective." He smiled at her lips.

He returned the gesture.

\- I know and I love you too.

He came back hugging her tightly.

...

A few minutes later he felt her tremble. He massaged her arms slowly.

-I'm sorry, I did not remember closing the window. You must be cold, he also looked at his watch - I think we should go to rest now. Above all, you have had a long day ...

She stayed a few seconds watching him and he could see how her face turned crimson again.

\- Okay, but only if you let me sleep with you.

He froze, blushing in the same way.

Ran on his part made an adorable pout and tried to forget his embarrassment. I was determined again.

\- You promised. I told you I wanted to be with you always, besides it's not something we have not done before. When I slept with you as Conan, I do not know ... I felt calm. And that I want, not to wake up tomorrow and think that all this was a dream.

He took a few seconds to respond and smiled at her.

\- Okay. If you want ... But then do not blame me, do not call me pervert. Is it clear? You have to remember that now I am no longer a child ... and that my needs may be other ...

Ran blushed. She had not thought about his "possible" reactions.

But that meant he wanted her, right?

\- Sorry, I had not thought about that. If you do not want me ...

He noticed his disappointment despite the shame. What she needed now was someone to restrain her, to embrace her, to watch over her dreams. And that was going to do.

He pitied her and tried not to laugh.

\- Do not worry, my innocent seducer. Go to change that in five minutes I wait for you in my bed. Or I'll go out and kidnap you.

Before waiting for his reaction, she gently pulled her away from his arms and after winking at him, she went to his room.

...

Ran had been a fool.

She hurried to her room.

How had she not realized what she had proposed? It was with Shinichi that she would sleep, not with Conan ...

Although now I saw that it was practically the same, ..

Now she looked like the pervert.

She could not do anything, anyway she had insisted, and she could not deny that nothing would please her more than sleeping with Shinichi by his side.

She blushed when she saw in her suitcase the daring night clothes that Sonoko had given her. Maybe ... maybe one day of those ...

No, no, I had to stop thinking about that.

She decided to put on a white tank top that came over the navel and gray shorts.

It was an old pajama that she used to wear. Like Conan, Shinichi had already seen it, so she hoped it was not a problem.

...

However, he did not think the same when he saw her.

Shinichi had also changed and worn blue pants and a matching shirt.

He heard her knock softly on the door and told him to pass.

He stood for a few seconds observing her, hypnotized.

How was he supposed not to react?

She looked more than adorable dressed like that and blushing and shy.

But he had to put up with it. At least that night.

\- Silly, come, come closer, do not stop there. I do not bite ...

He was sitting on the bed, waiting for her so he held out his arms. Ran was quick to react and rushed towards him.

Shinichi stroked his soft lips with his thumb.

\- You know, at this moment I'm thinking about how lucky I am. You are beautiful and I love you.

Before she realized it, he took her in his arms and arranged her inside the sheets.

As soon as he lay down next to him, Ran did not waste time and rested his head on his warm chest as he wrapped his arms around him.

He sighed happily.

\- Although this will raise more the ego, my maniac detective, you have to know that you are also very handsome.

She hid her head in her chest, shy again.

She felt him laughing against her hair while giving her a soft kiss.

\- Ran ... really if you're stupid ... - He lifted her face and looked at her before kissing her again this time on the lips - Now, rest, my love. Tomorrow we have a long day ahead ...

He pulled her back against his chest, and after turning off the lights on the bedside table, he encircled her tightly in his arms.

The seconds she noticed as she slowed her breathing.

He smiled again when he heard her whisper sleepy.

\- I love you ...

 _Osaka City ..._

\- Heiji, are you at home?

Kazuha slowly climbed the stairs, hoping to find his friend in the room.

I thought to ask you to go to the "Namba Parks", the park of the hanging gardens or Tennōji Zoo; although he did not refuse to go to the aquarium ...

I was very anxious about Kudo's arrival next week, and I did not know why, I also wanted to relax him, for his own reasons.

Oh yeah ... I was thinking about getting her out of a good time who was the fiancé of that silly Tokyo detective.

She felt bad for Ran, she had to be warned of the love affairs of her "dear friend".

He had tried calling several times, but his cell phone was out of order.

He knew that Heiji was aware of Kudo's movements, and he was going to get all the information out of him for his friend's sake.

As he did not get an answer (as he always did), he entered without bothering to hit.

Heiji was asleep.

Asleep?

It was weird, because as much as it was the holidays, it was weird to see him so late in bed.

He approached and in an impulse his hair ran messily over his face.

At last I could see him calm, without a face of worry or anxiety on his face.

He did not want to wake him up, so he stepped back to sit on a chair. When he did he felt something strange in her.

He bent down to pick up what he had thrown away and saw that it was a magazine with the tourist attractions of Osaka ...

Had that fool unveiled once again planned a sightseeing tour of Osaka?

He did not understand why he was able to do so much for his friend.

He set out to read the magazine to kill time waiting for him to wake up.

... ..

\- Hey, Kazuha ... Kazuha ... are you okay?

She woke up a little disoriented in a rather uncomfortable position ...

He was still sitting by Heiji's bed and he was leaning over her trying to put a hand on her forehead. He was startled to have it so close and quickly walked away tripping over everything around him.

\- Hey silly ... Be careful - his friend grabbed her arm to regain his balance and looked surprised -. I'm sorry if I scared you ... anyway ... What were you doing here? I must say that seeing your face when you woke up was also a big scare ...

What?

Of course, her friend flushed with fury.

\- What do you mean, Heiji? I'm sorry if my face scares you mister detective. I did not think he was such a coward ... "He turned around and could not see his friend's mocking smile. I better go then ...

He grabbed her again and forced him to see him

\- Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, you surprised me, that's all. Now ... "He brushed his messy hair and yawned. I want you to tell me what you did here so early. We are still on vacation.

\- Early? But if it's almost noon - she did not know why but she got nervous -. It's been a long time since we went somewhere and I thought we could go somewhere, together, I do not know ... To the zoo, or to "Namba Parks." - Suddenly he remembered the magazine -. But I guess those plans are with Kudo and his fiancée, is not it?

\- What are you saying? - To his surprise Heiji gave a laugh - With that you still go with that. Well, if you're stupid, I told you I will not tell you anything. But hey, that does not matter, I'm hungry, so I would not mind if we went out to eat something and then we go wherever you want. I could use an Okonomiyaki at this time, really.

Kazuha knew that he was trying to distract her, but she could not deny either she had not eaten anything, and she could still achieve her goals. Although being able to be alone with Heiji was more than enough.

\- Okay. We can go to eat and then I would like to go to the aquarium, of course you pay for everything. - Before he could answer he went to the door - You owe it to me after helping you escape from school the last time. Oh, and I'll wait for you downstairs while you change, I do not think you want to go out in the pajamas yet.

He smiled sweetly and headed down the hall.

\- That brat, you'll pay for them ...

...

In spite of everything, Kazuha got what she wanted, even if he was not aware, Heiji was always there for everything she asked for. And vice versa.

While they ate they talked about unimportant things, and Kazuha was glad he had dispersed his friend a little.

When they were arriving at the entrance of the aquarium, she spent a few seconds looking at some brochures of the place

\- Look Heiji, here says we can see penguins. I've never seen one! And whale sharks. I do not know why it never occurred to us to come before ... Do not you think it's wonderful? Heiji?

Damn it, he had lost it. How would I find it? Just then a lot of people were leaving the place and they stopped looking for him.

He began to despair when the minutes passed and he still could not find his friend.

She felt that she was pushed and would have fallen if strong arms had not grabbed her by the waist.

-Ah ... You ... Silly. Yes, you give me work. How can you get lost in a place like this? I told you to stay close.

She was so relieved to see him that her eyes began to water.

\- I'm sorry. I ... I was so scared, I thought you were going to leave here. - He rubbed his eyes trying to contain the tears

\- Yeah ... it was not that bad. Do you think I would leave you alone? Come on, I found something you'll like - surprisingly he took her by the hand and dragged her down a corridor.

Kazuha was happy with that gesture, watching other couples go hand in hand, she felt like one of them. I wish it were true.

She was very clear about her feelings, he did not know about them.

Both had fun walking around the place observing the different marine creatures, Kazuha had been amazed with the penguins, while Heinji of the dolphins. I do not expect much to explain their theories of why they were one of the most intelligent animals.

It was 6 o'clock in the afternoon when they finally left again.

\- Oh, we can finally rest a little.

Kazuha had gone for some ice cream at a nearby stand, and now they were both lying on a bench in Osaka Bay. They could see the sea from there.

\- Did not you have a little fun Heiji? I thought it would not hurt you to go out a bit.

He looked at her and noticed that it mattered very much the answer he could give her. She smiled at him, and without thinking, she ruffled the hair on his forehead.

\- Silly, of course I had fun. It had been a long time since I had taken a break. This also gave me new ideas for when Kudo and the girl Mouri come to visit us ...

That took Kazuha by surprise. It made her think.

\- What? Ran-chan is Kudo's partner? His fiancée? What does that mean?

Heiji immediately realized his mistake. But I could not do anything anymore.

\- Ehh ... I do not know if she's his fiancée ... yet ...

\- Heiji - her friend came up to him and grabbed him by the shirt - You have to tell me what you are hiding from me. Is Ran the one that comes with Kudo kun? But this is how you have to leave me the opportunity to tell my friend that they are cheating ...

Heiji could not believe it. Yes, definitely her friend had a surprising imagination.

He made the situation uncomfortable, so he got up in one fell swoop and stared at her.

\- Yes, you're stupid, huh? Are you crazy? Do you think Kudo would look at another girl that was not Ran? It's like I'm looking at someone other than you, Kazuha! That's impossible!

...

Immediately he realized what he had said.

They both blushed.

\- Heiji ... You ...

Had he declared himself?

\- Eh ... I do not know what you're thinking now Kazuha, but that was an example, you understand? Just that ... Do not think of things that are not.

\- What do you mean, Heiji? Explain me - her friend still blushing approached him - Tell me Heiji ...

\- I ... I told you, it was a misunderstanding ... - he turned to avoid looking at her - Come on, I'll leave you at home before it's late.

Before I could stop him, he went to his motorcycle and threw a helmet at him.

When he saw that he still did not react, he shouted at him.

\- Wait for me!

\- If you will be slow. Stop thinking about nonsense ...

Before she could realize it, she was up on the bike, her arms around him.

He was not going to forget Heiji's words, he would never do it.

He smiled against her back and he imitated the gesture when he felt it, without her being able to observe it.

Shinichi woke to feel the faint light that infiltrated the large window of the room.

Instinctively he wanted to turn around but a warm weight in his chest prevented him. And he remembered it.

Apparently everything that had happened the night before had not been a dream.

He turned his head and smiled when he saw Ran's on his chest; Apparently she was very comfortable in that position, her arms were tight around her.

He gave her a soft kiss on the head, happy to have her like that, by his side.

He remembered having the same thing when he hugged her when he slept with her like Conan but it was not the same. He was more than happy to have recovered his body.

He spent a few seconds enjoying the moment until he had to get up out of necessity.

If Ran saw it now, he would surely call it much more than a pervert.

He smiled again, she did not realize the effect it caused him.

...

He felt something soft, like a feather that brushed his lips.

A pen? It was so soft ...

She opened her eyes slightly and found a pair of bright blue eyes.

Shinichi was so close, I do not doubt that he had awakened her with one of his tender kisses.

Blushing slightly, he smiled at her.

\- Good morning, my sleeping beauty. How did you rest? He leaned closer to her, and dared to brush a strand of hair from her face.

\- Too good, I suppose - he cheered up and put his arms around her neck to draw him to him and kiss him - I'm glad this was not a dream. I love you.

She knew that everything was new for both of them (she could see him flushed, too), but if he dared to show her his gestures with love, she could do it too.

\- I love you too, Ran. He leaned closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he kissed her again.

A few seconds passed until they had to separate for lack of air.

\- Mm you know we could stay all afternoon like this but I think you should eat something now. I have planned a long day ... - he gently kissed the crown of his head and began to incorporate

\- So? It sounds as if you already knew how everything would end. - She also straightened up.

Shinichi turned and took his hand in hers and kissed them.

\- No, you know. I had a plan B in case everything went wrong and you did not want to see me again. In everything related to you, I'm not so confident. I never know what you can say, or think ...

Ran again noticed that a trace of sadness was showing up on his trail, but nothing was going to ruin him that day.

\- You say it like it's a total deranged. - He returned the gesture with his hands - I know that I have not been clear in my feelings with you, not being able to express them before, but I think we are both part of that. You are not easy to read either, you know? - He smiled -. I wish we had not lost so much time. But I suppose it was all worth it. I know I'm not the most docile person in the world either, but all you have to know is that always, I'm always going to love you Shinichi, you have to be sure of that.

He had listened attentively losing himself in his eyes, seeing himself reflected in them.

He kissed her again softly.

\- I know. I will never doubt your feelings towards me, as I hope you will do the same with mine ... Rays ... - suddenly he paused and looked down in embarrassment -. Ran, you cannot tell me those things, wearing so sexy and expect me not to react ...

\- What?

When Shinichi again apologized and saw him run to the bathroom (announcing that he was going to take a cold shower), she finally understood.

\- Kudo, you're a pervert!

She stayed a few seconds more in bed, thinking.

Had Shinichi said she looked sexy?

She blushed. If he got so fast that he reacted with just her pajamas, she supposed she could torture him a little.

Yes, he deserved it after all.

So far, Shinichi had behaved like a gentleman, he had not even tried anything more than to kiss her, she was not entirely sure if she would refuse to ...

Smiling, she went to her own room to change.

It would not hurt to play a little ...

...

Shinichi saw Ran pass into his room while he arranged the breakfast he had ordered.

I hoped I had chosen well.

He was watching the different dishes, when he saw her come out, already changed and he could not stop his jaw from falling from surprise.

Ran obviously was not aware that we were in winter, or was doing it on purpose.

She could not look more beautiful, with her blue dress, sleeveless, with a ruffled bottom.

She wore high stockings that reach to cover her legs but that did not stop Shinichi from observing part of them.

When I finished observing her in detail, she noticed that I was slightly flushed.

Apparently she had achieved her goal, Ran noticed the way he looked at her, seemed to like her attire

Although Shinichi also did not look bad with his jeans, shirt and white coat unbuttoned by chance.

They stood for a few seconds in silence, only admiring each other.

\- Eh .. you look very good Ran, you're beautiful - while she blushed, he cleared his throat nervously -. Although ... I hope you bring something to put on, I'm afraid the weather is not the best in this era.

\- Oh, thanks. But you'll see Sonoko is largely to blame for wearing these clothes. Apparently she took the time to empty the cupboards and leave me alone what seemed appropriate. The truth is I do not know if all this is really fine - her confidence for a while was beginning to waver.

He noticed and approached her and took her face in his hands. He smiled at him

\- You do not have to explain yourself. Do you think I don't know Sonoko? If you do not get comfortable, of course I'll be more than happy to buy you whatever it takes. In fact, I have something for you but it will be a surprise ...

Impulsively and without any reason, he embraced her.

They rocked a few seconds, calm, enjoying the moment.

\- What do you have planned to do today?

\- Mm, do not be impatient, woman you'll know, but first I think we should have breakfast, or for sure the tea will get cold.

Ran did not want to move away, she wanted to spend every second attached to him, but she knew that was impossible.

Although he smiled when noticing in her face , that was not happy with letting go.

However, if they wanted to enjoy their stay there, they should hurry to leave.

...

They finished breakfast around ten o'clock in the morning and after Shinichi's insistence, Ran put on a jacket and a warm scarf around her neck.

She could not be happier, at last she was having the appointment she had expected so much.

As soon as they left the hotel, Shinichi surprised her by making them take one of the double-decker red buses.

In that way, they had a beautiful view of the city, as they headed to wherever he had chosen.

Soon he discovered that reality did not have such a fixed itinerary.

Throughout the day they toured several places like Hyde Park, the Natural History Museum and Buckingham Palace

Shinichi had behaved like a gentleman.

They went on talking without stopping, Ran managed to refrain from asking him about his transformation, so they spent it remembering old school time, when neither of them had so many obligations. Sonoko was also part of the issues, and both agreed on a plan to take revenge on so many of their jokes.

Finally they walked hand in hand towards Big Ben, a place that brought them one of the best memories.

When they reached the base of the tower he stopped suddenly and both remained in the other's eyes.

\- This place is always going to be special for us, do not you think?

To Ran's surprise, he blushed deeply.

\- You know, I did not have this ready. You know, I did not know how everything would end between us; The truth is that it was an impulse, but I have something for you and I hope you like it. If you want to take it as a gift for last Golden week.

Without giving her time to react, in a few seconds he put his hands in one of the pockets of his jacket, and handed her a thin square box, with a white bow. Ran could not help but stifle a scream when he saw the Tiffany Logo on it.

He had not dared, did he?

With trembling hands, he took the object. But she did not dare to open it until she noticed the anxiety on her boyfriend's face.

\- Shinichi ... is not this too much? I have nothing prepared for you, I ...

\- Ran, nothing is enough when it comes to you. Do not worry, I'm not going to ask you to marry ... Still ...

Even though the last moment she whispered, she could hear it.

Was Shinichi really so serious with her? That encouraged her to open the box.

Inside was a delicate rose gold medallion, with a heart-shaped charm with the letters "R and S".

He took it gently in his hands, and could not stop the tears from coming out of his eyes.

\- Ran, my love. What's wrong, do not you like it? I'm sorry if it was too fast ...

He could not continue as soon as he felt her arms on his neck. He noticed how he shook his head.

\- It's not that Shinichi, how could I not like it? It's beautiful, it's too ... I ... I did not expect it. Thank you ... - before he could react, he timidly put his lips to his and kissed him softly - Thank you, thank you for this and for the beautiful day we have spent together.

\- Mm I guess I should do this more often if you keep thanking me like this ...

Ran pulled back a little to observe him.

\- Oh, you would not dare. I do not want, nor do I need you to give me more gifts, seriously. I do not want a relationship like that, it would make me feel uncomfortable ...

\- Do not worry - Shinichi brushed a strand of hair from his face - This gift I did on impulse, when I accompanied my mother to the store before you arrived. Believe me it was not easy, forget all your teasing when we left.

Both could not help but smile at the thought of the beautiful Yukiko.

\- So in part I suppose I should thank her too.

\- We'll see, I think he will not accept a refusal for tomorrow. So unless we have a very good excuse, we will visit and we will ride on the yacht.

\- I do not see why not, I think it would be a good idea ...

At a gesture of him he turned and let him place the medallion; When he finished, he placed a soft kiss on the back of her neck.

\- I love you, Ran, I love you too much. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

\- I love you too, Shinichi - to reaffirm his embrace, he took his hands in his.

The Big Ben would be their favorite place for them, of that they had no doubts.

...

They did not want to separate, they both knew it but Shinichi started to notice that Ran was shivering. They had dined in a small restaurant that he had found in passing so they had no choice but to return to the Hotel.

It was around nine o'clock when they were in the room. Both were exhausted, so Ran went to his room to change and check his cell phone to see if he had received calls from his parents.

Shinichi went to his to change into his pajamas and had just finished with his pants, when he felt that knocked on the door.

Ran obviously wanted to kill him.

He saw her come in, blushing, wearing a violet silk nightgown with black lace at the ends. It was quite long and covered part of his long legs, but that resulted in Shinichi's imagination shooting up.

She did not understand why she had decided to change her pajamas, but she was not going to complain.

\- Hey - he swallowed. These ... you're beautiful. Something happened?

Ran noticed his nervousness, felt that he reacted again to his clothes and approached.

\- Mm, Shinichi, can I sleep with you again? - He could not help it and made a pout of supplication -. I do not want to sleep alone in that room. It's too much for me. But if you get uncomfortable, I can change ... You see, it seems that the cleaners have taken my clothes yesterday to the laundry and ...

He could not contain himself anymore and came too.

He took her by the waist and deposited her on the bed.

He brought his face close to hers.

\- You know how much you tempt me with those clothes, do not you? - He gently stroked her nose with his and whispered in his ear - I have several things in mind that I could do with you, but I think you would not approve.

She blushed but laughed before his touch.

\- Do you think I would reject you? .

Shinichi stood for a few seconds thinking about his answer.

Was she daring ...?

But no, I could not do that night. He had to hold on.

\- You ... little seductress. You do not know what you're getting into. - kissed her, not so innocently but in a few seconds she pulled away.

Before she said anything, she pulled away, placed herself beside him on the bed and pulled her into his arms.

He smiled when he heard her sigh resigned.

Apparently he had been right, she had everything planned.

\- Rest, Ran, there's no rush. I promise we will, but do not believe that today is the time.

Ran took a few seconds to relax in his arms, and when he did she kissed him softly on the bare chest.

\- Well then you do not tempt me so much, my beloved detective -she felt that she laughed softly -. Good night Shinichi, I love you. And thanks again for today.

\- The best for you, . Love you too. Now rest. I fear that my mother tomorrow will end all our energies.

He felt her smile on his chest and this time he sighed, happy.

Both were not long in entering the world of dreams.

Ran woke up feeling some flashes of light on his face. It could not dawn yet, it was very early ...

She was also very comfortable in Shinichi's arms; he stirred among them and opened his eyes slowly as he again noticed another bright light.

The surprise forced her to stifle a scream and lie back.

Shinichi woke up startled and cranky. He brushed his hair back from his face as he looked at his girlfriend, very annoyed.

\- Hey ... But what's the matter, Ran? What a way to wake up, woman. - It took a few seconds to look at where she was looking - What the hell?

Nobody but his mother, the famous Yukiko Kudo was in front of them, as if nothing, with a camera in his hand.

A huge smile gleamed on his face.

\- Oh, but what a beautiful couple they make, my beautiful children - before neither of them could get away, he pounced on them and hugged them - I knew this was going to happen someday, oh yes ... I'm so happy ...

He rubbed his face against Shinichi's, which increased his anger. And shame.

\- Ya ... mom. How the hell did you appear like that? What a fright you gave us.

\- Oh, how bad you are Shin-chan with your own mother. I do not know how you did not inherit any of my character. Look, that way of talking to your dear girlfriend, you're just as insensitive as your father.

At last she had no choice but to turn away and Shinichi turned to look at Ran, apparently still surprised and looked very embarrassed; her deep blush betrayed her.

Trying to ask for an apology, he gently stroked her cheek and forced her to look at him.

\- I'm sorry, honey, because of that. And I would tell you to forgive my mother but you know how it is ...

To her surprise, she did not take long to smile at him and he returned the gesture.

\- Do not worry, I'm also sorry I woke you up like that.

Ran, timidly, turned to Yukiko, who was still watching them smiling sitting on the other end of the bed.

\- This ... I ... we just ...

\- Come on, come on, Ran -chan, do not be ashamed now. After all I know you and what you have done with my Shin-chan ...

Again the blush appeared on the faces of the teenagers.

\- Mom! It is not what you are thinking. We have nothing, and let us bother. Better explain what you do here ...

\- Oh, but they're so adorable. - before they noticed it, he took them again. Nothing escapes me, for sure I'm going to discover everything that happened here - he stopped in a jump and looked at them very happy -. I came so they do not try to escape from me. I wanted to make sure they come for a walk with us this afternoon. Oh, and I hope you have no problems spending the rest of the days that remain in our mansion. They do not have another, since they have already moved most of their luggage ... Well I think that's it. Oh, and Ran-chan, I left you a fad of clothes in the other room, I hope it's to your liking.

Taking advantage of thier surprise, she winked at them and before they could notice she had left the room.

\- What the hell was that supposed to be? Shinichi pushed back the sheets and jumped up. How could she do this to us? Without consulting us before

He ran his hands through her hair, disheveled it even more, making it even sexier before Ran's eyes. He was visibly irritated.

\- Hey, hey ... Shinichi. Do not get mad at her. We already know how your mother is. Do not tell me you did not expect something like that. - she approached her and smoothed her hair away from her face.

He looked too adorable, and Ran could not help but wrap her arms around him and rest her head on his still bare chest.

He gently stroked her hair and placed a kiss on her forehead.

\- Rays, no, I did not expect all this. I did not think that Mom would stand between us so much. I guess she does it to laugh at our expense. The truth, there was no reason to appear like this ...

\- You're right, that was vengeful ...

Both raised their faces and their eyes reflected in the other. They smiled.

\- I promise not to let anything else stand between us.

\- Oh, come on, I do not think it's that terrible. Also, I really like Yukiko-san. Able that I can learn more from you with her. I guess it will be fun ..

\- Learn from me? What things could I tell you?

\- I do not know, it's your mother. Some of your childhood hobbies ... Some of your favorite foods?

Shinichi laughed.

\- Hey hey, what do you say? Besides that is leaving me at a disadvantage . You know well that I would not dare to ask your mother about you - seeing that she was the one who laughed this time, drew her to herself - There is nothing you do not know about me, I assure you. And only your food is my favorite, you know ...

-Mmm always you so sure - Ran wanted to make fun of him for a while - I'll judge that later.

\- I do not know why I have bad feelings about this.

\- You always so cautious, you make trouble for nonsense. Now, let's hurry up.

Before he could add anything else she gave him a soft kiss on the lips before turning away and heading for the door. It took a few seconds to put on the shirt the day before Shinichi had left before leaving.

He took a moment to react.

He ran his hands over his face in an attempt to reveal himself completely. And he smiled.

\- Women ... Who could understand them?

...

Ran when leaving the room, not only found Yukiko sitting at the table, but also the famous Yusaku Kudo (he was glad to have put something on the nightgown).

He was comfortably checking the newspaper and having a coffee, while his wife told him about his meeting with them. As if nothing out of place happened.

\- I'm telling you from now, dear. I cannot wait for our Shin-chan to propose it to Ran ... If you could see how I saw it a few moments ago. Oh, it's the happiest moment of my life.

\- I realize that honey, but we should not get so many in their affairs ...

Ran must have made some movement because his gaze turned to her. Yukiko also turned around.

\- Sorry ... I did not want ...

\- Oh, good morning, Ran. I'm sorry about this mess. I suppose I could not control everything to my wife - he noticed that the aforementioned snorted indignantly, but decided to ignore it.

Ran watched as Shinichi' father approached her, smiling, which managed to calm her for a moment.

She did not expect a hug from him. I had never seen the famous writer so demonstrative.

\- I'm glad things have finally settled between you and my son. He really appreciates you more than you imagine, I'm sure you'll be very happy.

\- I ... thanks. I'll try. I also love it very much

Yusaku pushed her away so he could look at her and she blushed.

\- I do not doubt it. Shinichi could not be with anyone but you who you know since childhood, you know how to handle it.

After giving him a gentle pat on the back he left her to go to the room.

Yukiko, from a corner, was still smiling.

...

As soon as the two young men finished having breakfast, they all hurriedly left the hotel.

Shinichi was still fighting with his mother, for having taken his luggage out of the place without having consulted before but nothing changed Yukiko's mind.

Ran only enjoyed the situation, for her Shinichi's parents liked them too much. Besides, they seemed very different, but they were still together, which gave her relationship a lot of hope. I would definitely take them as an example.

He knew that Yusaku was a maniac of the mysteries as his son, but if his wife still held it she could well do it with Shinichi.

He could not help but smile and his boyfriend watched him curious.

At that moment they were in a car, heading towards a port Yukiko had insisted on walking on the Thames.

\- What do you find funny?

\- No, nothing. - She shook her head -. I just enjoy all this. It will be fun to spend the days with your parents.

\- I thought you wanted to spend every day just with me.

\- Do not tell me you're jealous. Let's not be like this ...

Ran laughed when he looked away and blushed slightly.

He took her face in his hands and looked at her.

\- I love you, remember that. Let's enjoy the moment, we will also have our whole lives to be alone, will not we? His face also reddened.

But he got what he wanted because Shinichi smiled and kissed her.

\- You're right. And do not forget that I love you too.

Ran leaned back against his chest and sighed happily at being wrapped in the warmth of his arms.

She was half asleep when Shinichi whispered that they had arrived.

The four of them headed down a long pier until they reached the family yacht. Ran could not help but be surprised even though he knew that the Kudo family had a lot of money, they did not expect that.

It was a beautiful and huge boat, and it seemed to have all the comforts inside.

Yukiko soon showed him the facilities, had two suites, kitchen, games room and a huge pool.

His astonishment increased when it was Shinichi himself who asked his father to take them off the dock. He looked excited.

Apparently it was one of the new things I would learn from him.

He headed toward the bow, thoughtful as they went into the river. Sigh.

\- Ran ... Are you okay?

He turned to meet Yukiko. For the first time he saw a shadow of concern on his beautiful face.

\- Yes ... of course, Mrs. Kudo just thought ...

\- Hey, hey, do not call me, please, Ran-chan, I told you, no formalities. Also, I do not think I'm old enough to be called like my mother-in-law ...

The two were watching for a few seconds until both began to laugh.

\- I ... I'm sorry okasan. It was the custom, I suppose.

\- I know and that's why I forgive you. Just tutéame. - He patted her back gently -. But we already put everything aside. You know we've known each other for a long time. I do not want there to be any discomfort among us. I think you know how much I appreciate you, is not it? - Now it was your turn to be surprised - There are many things for which I have to thank you, really. I do not know what would have happened to my Shin-chan if you were not by her side. You do not have to have any kind of fear in your relationship.

\- Why do you say that? - That got Ran's attention.

\- Come on, you know Shinichi is not a very easy person. He's too smart for his age and those things, but with you ... You're one of the few people with whom he works with ease. You know how to handle it, and understand it. You were always at his side, even in the most difficult moments and I know that he corresponds to you in all your feelings. - She paused as if she were ordering her thoughts - You see, when we found out about his problem, we wanted to take him to the United States, to protect him, but he very stubbornly refused. He said he wanted to stay in Japan because he had an important reason; We never had the slightest doubt that it was about you, Ran. He has always shown interest in you, darling, since he was five years old, and if you do not think so, you can ask him.

She began to think about all the suffering that should have happened to make such a decision: to leave her family to stay by her side.

Suddenly she wanted to hug him, to promise that nothing would set them aside and that she would do everything possible to make him happy. I also wanted to ask what Yukiko was referring to because he had shown interest in her at age five. It was impossible, they were just kids.

\- If you want to go see him, he's sure to be with his father in the cabin ...

The young woman was surprised, but noticed that Yukiko understood her perfectly.

He smiled gratefully and ran to the place.

... ..

In the cabin..

\- What a son, you surprise me. You do everything very well, I thought you had lost practice.

\- Hey, hey, but what little faith do you have in my dad.

Shinichi started the autopilot device and turned to his father.

\- Now you will tell me what is worrying you? - suddenly the boy's look became serious -. There is a case that does not let you rest in peace, is not it? I can notice your dark circles for miles and that does not always happen.

The aforementioned smiled not at all surprised by his deductions.

\- I guess you inherited that from me, so it does not surprise me. I do not want you to waste your time being with Ran in your normal way but ...

\- Dad, I'm intrigued.

\- Well, one of the reasons we wanted you to come to the mansion was for you to help me with a case. There is something that is slipping away and I could not see what it is. I thought you could have another vision of things.

Shinichi could not react with enthusiasm.

Not forgetting what he had promised Ran, not at all, besides he was only going to act as an advisor. His father would take care of the rest.

\- I'll give you the rest of the details, but I think we're facing a serious case of a serial killer ...

Shinichi froze at the words of his father. It was not expected.

\- Are you sure?

\- I'm afraid so, son, but that's not the worst. I am working together with the Scotland Yard police and we believe that we are facing an imitator, but we are not sure yet if it is a man or a woman ...

That aroused the young detective's curiosity to the fullest

\- You mean that it had happened before? What happened dad? Tell me all the details.

The two were startled when they heard a noise behind them.

Shinichi was stunned to see Ran through the half-open door. She was carrying a glass of glass that fell to the ground to be surprised.

Immediately she bent down to pick it up and could not help but wince as she felt one of the pieces of glass cut her hand.

He did not take long to get to her side trying to see the depth of the wound. Ran tried to pull away from her side.

\- I ... I'm sorry. I did not want to get in, I just came by and I thought maybe ...

\- Silly, do not move, what do not you see that can be dangerous?

\- Ya, leave me. I can with this alone.

Shinichi noticed how he rubbed his face in an attempt to hide his tears.

He did not like that situation at all.

\- Ran, please. Let me help you.

\- I do not want to.

Before he could stop her, she pulled away from him and ran out holding his injured hand.

\- Ran ...

\- I think you should go talk to her son now and leave this case for later. He needs you.

The young man did not doubt it anymore and before the words of his father was in his search.

He knew that she had listened to his conversation and how she was feeling.

He went looking for a few minutes that were eternal until he heard sobs from one of the bedrooms. His mother was with her.

He stopped for a few seconds to listen.

\- Come on, come on, tell me what happened. I do not like seeing you like that. What did my son do to you? If you were so happy when you went to look for him.

\- Yukiko-san has not done anything to me. I'm the fool for believing it, I do not know how I could have made it so easy.

\- Then I guess you found out about Yusaku's intentions, is not it?

It was the moment for his son to intervene.

\- Ran. We can talk?

Both were startled to hear it. Upon entering the room completely, he saw with relief that his mother was already disinfecting Ran's wound.

Without giving him time for anything else, he hurried to take Yukiko's place, while she only got to move away.

\- Okay, I guess they should talk. Anything you know you can count on me, Ran-chan - after winking at both of them he left the room.

\- Rays, how can that woman be so changeable, a few seconds ago if she looked the most worried ... - Shinichi muttered as he concentrated on bandaging Ran's hand.

As soon as she finished she pulled away when I could from him and she cringed against the back of the bed.

That was a direct blow to his heart.

\- Ran me .. I'm sorry. I did not want you to hear everything that way, just ..

\- That means you already had everything planned. I guess you took advantage of her choosing to come here to work with your father in a case, right?

\- What? Of course not. I did not know anything about all this ...

\- Liar - she tried to scrub the tears with her hand hurt and could not help but groan in pain.

Instinctively she approached him and took it delicately, she could not move away and her cry became stronger when he placed his soft lips on the bandage.

\- Please do not turn away from me, do not walk away. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. If I could take away the pain a little ...

Ran could see the anguish latent in Shinichi's face so she decided to feel sorry for him. With his healthy hand she took his face and forced him to look at her.

\- Hey, this was an accident. I guess my clumsiness is still one of my faults, right?

Apparently he did not manage to calm him as he expected. He just stared at her.

\- Your clumsiness is not a defect, sometimes I find it adorable, but it also forces me to keep an eye on you all the time.

\- Oh, does that mean ... taking care of me means an obligation to you?

Before more tears could come out through his beautiful eyes he answered.

\- No Ran, that's not what I meant. Caring for me means much more than an obligation. If something happened to you ... I do not know what would be of my life if you are not in it. I would never live without you.

To Ran's surprise, Shinichi hugged her very tightly. I felt the accelerated beats of his heart ..

\- If you ask me, I'll tell dad I will not help him in the case. Whatever you say. After all, you are the important thing to me and I would never regret it. I swear that…

\- Liar.

That made her lift her head to look at her.

\- What do you mean by that?

Ran smiled at her and leaned down to give him a soft kiss on the lips that completely unnerved him.

\- Nothing that I tell you is going to make you, my beloved maniac detective, leave aside the cases. Even if I stopped you, you would see the way to find information, or you deny it to me? - seeing that he was going to answer him, he continued -. I know I'm important to you, now I see it ... otherwise you would not have run so many dangers by staying with me. It would have been easier for you to decide to come and live with your parents, but you still rejected the idea. That for me is very valuable. I knew that this could happen, I knew it. The mysteries are part of your life, I could never get away from them - he paused a little -. The only thing I ask is that you do not separate me from your side. Whenever there is a case, you forget everything else, I do not want that. I do not care what kind it is, or if it is very dangerous, I just want to accompany you. I want to stay by your side, I do not care where we are ... Maybe it might help. I do not know ... maybe I can protect you with my karate?

Realizing her long speech, she blushed. Oh, God ... so desperate had it sounded?

Shinichi on the other hand was slow to react and the first thing he did was stare at her for a second and laugh out loud.

\- I LOVE YOU so much ... - before she could do anything else, he laid her gently against the sheets.

He looked at her from the height as he laid his face on hers, careful not to hurt her.

\- He was serious about leaving the case. I was not even thinking about taking it yet, I was just asking because I saw my father worried ... "He paused for a breath." Nothing is more important than being with you, really. And I'm sorry, I did not know exactly how you felt every time I solve some mystery ... I guess my instinct makes me stand aside in an attempt to protect you. You can tell that you know me better than I do and I regret it. I promise to change that. If you really dislike something of what I do, it seems good that you tell me, or that you make me notice how you feel. After all we are together in this, right? And forever…

Both blushed, looked into each other's eyes, Ran believed in what he saw. He touched her face gently.

\- I love you too and I am more than willing to spend the rest of my days with you.

He smiled and approached to kiss her gently ...

He was not expected to force him to deepen the kiss by wrapping his arms around her neck.

At last they were back in their bubble of happiness. They felt that nobody and nothing could separate them.

Shinichi separated in search of air and noticed in her eyes that she expected more action on his part. His flushed face tempted him for a few seconds.

But finally he helped her up and sat her on his lap.

\- No ... do not tempt me like that anymore, honey. - tenderly kissed her on the nose and cheeks sucking her sweet scent - I cannot take responsibility for my actions, and you're hurt ..

Unable to help it, she snorted.

\- Well, I would not deny anything, you know ...

Both, despite having red faces, looked at each other defiantly.

In the end Shinichi looked down, shy.

\- I was thinking of making all this a special moment, you know ... but if you want to ruin everything ...

Ran took a few seconds to understand his words. His face looked worse than a tomato.

\- What? Did you have everything planned? ...

\- The truth is that it is very difficult to hide it, if you are so anxious.

She lowered her head more than embarrassed.

\- Sorry, I just ... - she swallowed nervously. Not that I'm anxious is that ... given the opportunity ... The truth is I was already thinking that you ... that you would not want me.

Shinichi finally took pity on her and lifted her face to look at him.

\- Silly, how could I not wish you. You are more than tempting to me ... in fact you are the only woman I feel that way with.

The fact that he also looked so nervous talking about the subject made her feel sorry. He smiled at him

\- Then I guess if I'm rewarded, I can wait for whatever is necessary. I will try to contain myself if that makes you feel better ...

He could not help but play with him and wink at her playful eye before resting his head on her neck and inhaling her scent.

Shinichi was so warm ...

He hugged her again and gently kissed her hair.

\- I will not allow anything, or anyone to separate them, I promise.

He smiled tenderly at the feeling that she rubbed her face with her neck in a sign of assent.

...

\- Oh, look Yusaku -kun. Do not you think they're too tender?

Of course, Shinichi's parents could not avoid spying on the scene ...

Shinichi and Ran were too comfortable lying in bed. They did not feel like moving for the moment.

They huddled and before they knew it, the dream had overcome them.

Yukiko (pressed by her husband), let them rest until noon but could not hold it any longer.

With the excuse of telling them about lunch, he woke them up.

She wanted to talk to her future daughter-in-law in those moments. You would like to get all the information you could about your child's behavior on those days. Oh, if he died for the details.

Like his mother, he knew that Shinichi would not be very communicative, so he thought he would take advantage of listening to Ran's version of it.

She smiled tenderly at the tight embrace her son gave Ran, apparently with her he was the only person with the feeling he could fully trust.

He touched them gently on the shoulder.

\- Come on, let's go my children. Wake up, it's time for lunch. Come, get up. - His smile widened as he watched Shinichi snuggle closer with his girlfriend and begin to murmur incoherently.

\- Come on, Shin-chan. Your father wants to talk to you in a moment. I give you five minutes to be ready.

After that he left them alone for a moment.

Ran, feeling the movements of Shinichi around him opened his eyes slowly.

He became disoriented for a few seconds but he soon remembered everything that had happened. He smiled when he noticed Shinichi's hair completely disheveled and adjusted it while yawning loudly.

\- What a woman! Why do you always have to be bothering us?

\- Hey, more respect for your mother - Ran got up from the bed and held out his healthy hand - Come lazy, come with me. - He blushed - I would not do anything wrong something to eat.

Shinichi stared at her for a moment before taking her hand and giving her a hug that surprised the girl.

\- I'd like to stay like this forever. You are better? Does something hurt? - He moved away one second to observe his wounds and then rested his head on her forehead - Sorry if all this is not coming out exactly how we had planned. Maybe it was a bad idea to accept his invitation. I will do everything possible to get rid of them as quickly as I can from

Ran took her face in his hands, and kissed him softly on the lips. Apparently his mood had improved.

\- I do not care, really. Always something interesting happens with your parents nearby, in fact I like them, you know ... I have always appreciated them. Come on, let's meet with them while you can chat with your father about the case. I'm sure you'll want to know a little more.

Before he could answer, he pulled him and led him out of the room.

... ..

Yusaku Kudo, tried to apologize for having taken the audacity to have consulted the subject of the mystery with his son. I had no idea that both had made an agreement about it.

But Ran tried to dismiss the matter. I would have to assume it, I thought I already did.

The mysteries were part of Shinichi's life, he would have to live with that if he wanted to stay by his side. That was all he wanted.

When they finished having lunch, Yukiko invited Ran to a small heated pool that was in one of the huge rooms, adjacent to the living room. She had not noticed it when she entered, and she was enthusiastic; Nothing would make it better than swimming a little to clear up.

He smiled at the thought that he could release one of the bathing suits that Sonoko had dared to put in his suitcase. He had arrived that he could not do it because of the cold weather they were in.

Now he had another opportunity to tempt Shinichi and if he kept holding back it would be a sweet torture for both of them, but he did not mean to waste the opportunity.

While the women were leaving and after promising that they would join them later, Shinichi and his father confronted each other.

\- Shinichi, I'm sorry. I never wanted any inconvenience to happen between you and Ran ...

\- Leave him daddy. I think we've clarified the matter. I have to start thinking that my life also goes through hers. I suppose if I do not let my "mystery cravings" overtake me, there will be no problems.

\- You will learn with time, and Ran to understand you better, the same thing for you. I guess the mystery forms for our lives do not you think?

Yusaku smiled at him as he stopped and walked around the dining room. Shinichi watched him pull out a huge stack of papers from a counter.

\- Now, I'd like to show you this. These are the reports of the fifteen murders that were committed in the last two months and that have many points in common. That's why we think it's a serial killer. If you dare to see them, I would like to ask for your opinion.

Shinichi shuddered to see the first leaves. They were pictures of the murders.

The cause of death was what most horrified and surprised him at the same time. They were all men between thirty and fifty years of age and had been murdered, after having a crossbow in their hearts. But not only that, the culprit had also taken the trouble to hang them in a public place like a tree or in an alley and then extract their organs (most of them their liver) and give them a ...

\- A bite? Is this true dad? How…

\- I know son, it's horrible. The worst thing is that the analysis of the denture does not help, apparently it did with a false. Those who were responsible for making the killer profile assume that it does so as a trophy, or pure satisfaction. The same happened a few years ago, the only difference is that before they had only been victims women, all with problems in gender violence by their partners, was the only thing they found in common but still never found the culprit. They did not find similarities between the spouses.

\- So you must have thought before that it was a man who could have a hatred against women, is not it? - Shinichi checked the reports without stopping. - Now it could be the opposite case ... these men present all denunciation by parts of their wives for abuse, beatings, threats ... Maybe someone knows the history of the previous murderer and is using it as a revenge ...

\- Exactly that is what they think, but cannot find a common point among the victims in any of the cases. According to their relatives they did not know each other ..

\- Well, in both cases, there were reports of violence with women. Maybe there was some connection, someone they had to go to for help ... I do not know ... Maybe all of them have attended an institution? They did not have to know each other personally. - Yusaku listened attentively to his son while he became increasingly involved in the case -. My theory is that, indeed, it can be a woman, with some trauma, that is based on the story of the first murderer and tries to help those of her own gender, after listening to their stories ...

\- Okay, I think you're right. I will ask the police to investigate possible help centers to which women victims of violence may have attended. I suppose we'll have some data, on that side. Thank you son, I had not considered that possibility - he patted the back of his son who stood proud. Until I have more information I guess I can set you free. Ran, I suppose he'll be waiting for you.

Before his son answered, he winked at him, and after taking his cell phone he left the room; now both had enough to entertain themselves.

Shinichi took a few seconds to react. And he smiled at the thought of how he would find Ran as soon as he joined him in the pool.

He had already seen her in a bathing suit in the past but she supposed that now being his girlfriend she could dare more.

He blushed at the thought.

...

Ran did not expect Shinichi to return to his side so soon.

He feared that his father would have entertained him more than necessary; seeing him only in his swimsuit, showing his muscular chest, he was spellbound for a few seconds, admiring him.

He also had the same reaction when he saw her resting on the edges of the pool. His thin, slender body was transparent through the water. He was sure that his daring violet bikini was Sonoko's idea.

They both stared at each other for a few seconds and blushed when they noticed it.

\- Oh, but how good is your new swimsuit that I chose for you Shi-chan? I'm glad that I can see you premiere it. Come on, join Ran - his mother looked at him while he was floating carelessly in the center of the pool. - Do not worry, I'll leave you alone in a few moments. I've seen how you look at her son, I will not let you miss this opportunity. - I wink an eye and went closer to one of the stairs.

\- Bye, bye, it was a pleasure to talk to you like always Ran-chan.

Both young men watched her as she made her way to the door.

Shinichi did not delay, he approached Ran and smiled at him.

\- Hi - he sat on the edge of the pool and stroked her cheek with his palm - Are you better? I see you relaxed for a while

She unconsciously rubbed her face against the caress; He also smiled back.

\- Yes, I did. Your mother also helped me to clear up for a while. I had no idea of the latest gossip of high society. I did not know that Yukiko-san was so famous ... and how are you? All right with your father? I thought you were going to take.

\- Mmmm, no, it was not my intention. I did not want to waste more time with him knowing that you were waiting for me that way ... Besides, I already gave dad instructions so now he must be quite entertained.

Without further ado, he pulled away from her and dove into the warm water.

As soon as he returned to the surface, he approached Ran smiling maliciously and he soon wrapped his arms around her waist. He stroked her against a wall and set a loud kiss on her lips.

\- Come on, come on. We should not be ashamed of this. Are we in this together, no? I also remember seeing you like this in other times. There is nothing that I have not seen.

As expected, she forgot her embarrassment, and planted both hands on his furious chest.

\- You, you're a pervert. Do not remind me of everything you took advantage of being Conan.

\- Hey, hey, what did you want him to do? I could not give myself away.

\- That's no excuse and you know it. You're lucky that ...

He broke off to see that he had taken her injured hand in his and placed a soft kiss on the bandage.

He had not taken it off because he had noticed that at times, he was still bleeding. Luckily, it did not bother him too much anymore.

\- It still hurts, is not it? You should be more careful.

\- If you're trying to distract me, forget it Kudo. Someday I promise to take revenge for everything you did - he wanted to get away but he stopped her and smiled at her.

Immediately she knew that her threats were in vain.

\- Well, I'd like to see you trying to be mean to me. I bet you could not.

That sounded like a challenge and seeing his defiant smile, he agreed. I knew that I would be behaving like a child, but I did not want to waste my opportunity.

He walked away at last for a few seconds, pointed it at his index finger and challenged him:

\- What do you think I cannot avenge myself with, huh? Agree.

Shinichi smiled amused at the seriousness of his girlfriend.

\- What do you think you could do that could affect me? - He tried to hug her again but she walked away smiling maliciously.

\- No, go away. What if I did not let you get close?

\- What? - He immediately stopped and stared at her - You cannot talk seriously, nor would you put up with it.

\- Oh, you're arrogant Mr. Detective. You would not like anything to do something like that, right?

He thought about it for a few seconds: he was quite serious.

\- Well, I do not like anything.

\- It was you who decided to challenge me. Now, face the consequences. - He smiled again and before he knew it he went around and swam away at the other end. - You cannot with me this time Kudo.

Seeing her so far increased her bad mood.

But it only lasted a few seconds.

\- I see you're making fun of me. Agree. - I surprisingly wink an eye -. Although I do not think you win, I'm too irresistible for you. You cannot keep me away.

\- Well, we'll see who's right.

With the idea of tempting him, she left the pool and could not help but blush when she heard the deep sigh Shinichi made when he saw her come out of the water.

She tortured him a few more seconds while he lay down in a large armchair and dried himself with a towel.

When she finished she turned to see him, gave him the widest of smiles and left the room.

He had only been gawking at her.

I knew it was going to cost him, but for nothing in the world, I would lose in this.

Shinichi could not believe what just happened.

He felt like an idiot for having reminded Conan ... Although surely Ran would soon fall into his arms again, he did not think she was that serious, after all they had been through together.

She could not stay away either.

He thought to give him a time of advantage so that he reconsider, she did not think to be left behind either.

He prepared to take long strokes to relax before going to look for her.

...

Ran, meanwhile, entered the room and prepared to take a bath.

When she finished, she was scared to death to see Shinichi in the middle of the room, looking in his suitcase.

As if nothing, he was only with a towel that surrounded his waist. Apparently he had showered elsewhere before, Ran could not help but feel his colony. I would never forget it.

He must have made some noise, because he quickly turned around, and blushed a few seconds after glancing quickly at his body.

\- Sorry, I thought you were still bathing. I just came looking for something to change ... I was leaving.

When he passed her, instinctively she extended an arm to touch him, and he smiled.

\- How easy you lose your challenges, honey. I told you that this was ridiculous. Was not it that you could hold on without being able to touch me?

As a reflex she pulled her hand away and when he tried to grab her she left this time.

\- I will not fall so easy in your tricks, Kudo. Of course I can take it. You are not so irresistible to me.

\- Oh, right?

She was mocked but immediately his face expressed concern.

\- At least let me sell you your wound, I do not think you can do it by yourself.

Ran looked down at his hand and discovered that he was bleeding again.

\- Oh, I had not noticed. - She stayed a few seconds thinking - Thank you, but I guess I can ask Yukiko-san later ... Now, if you do not mind I would like to change ...

The blush on her face reminded him of the position they were in.

\- All right, as you want. I'll be in the next room, in case you want to stop by when you're done. If you do not want to ... we can watch a movie for a while to distract us. - He paused - There is not much else to do, it's raining outside and in a while we'll be back. I promise not to pounce on you, if that what you fear. I was thinking and I guess this stupid way of revenge is less than you could have done to me, so I'll accept it. But only for today. - He extended his hand as a truce.

Ran did not expect that peace of mind on his part. She nodded and was about to shake it, had it not been for the moment she again extended his arm the towel that covered it slid softly and silently to the floor.

Both reacted late and Shinichi soon took a good look at her naked body.

\- You, pervert! On top of that you wanted to cheat me, get out of here! -Smiled as best she could, she jumped up and ran to the bathroom where she locked herself

\- Ran, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. You're good?

He did not hesitate to come close to knocking on the door.

\- Ya, leave me. I want to live a few seconds more with the dignity that I have left ..

To increase her anger, Shinichi could not think of anything else but to laugh.

\- Do not you dare to laugh at me, Kudo. At the moment I am very angry with you, maybe I decide to change my revenge. In fact, it would not hurt me to get off with a little karate ...

As he supposed, he did not slow down.

\- Okay, you win. For now. Just want you to know that seeing you like this ... it was not my intention. - He paused a little - And by the way, they saw nothing wrong.

He barely had time to get away when he felt the bathroom door open and a sandal brushing his head.

Laughing at last he left the room.

\- I already understood the message. I'm leaving, I'll be waiting for you.

That shouted and away, without giving him time to answer

Without further ado he went into the other room laughing.

He expected that Ran would come to his side, but he did not. Not during the rest of the ride.

When he went to see if anything happened to him, he found her quietly having tea and chatting with his mother. He seemed to have healed his wound already.

She felt a little better because of that, but her bad mood increased as soon as she noticed that she planned to ignore him (in fact, she did not look at him) and she did not like it at all.

He was approaching to join them when his father appeared from the deck; I needed your help to board the boat.

The rest of the day happened the same. She did not understand it, as soon as she wanted to approach Ran, she did not move away from him, but instead she blushed deeply and lowered her eyes; this was a reaction rather than exaggerated for a stupid revenge.

To make matters worse, apparently his mother was aware of what happened, because as soon as they went back to the mansion she offered to sit with Ran in the back seat with the excuse of continuing to chat with her "future news".

His father chuckled when he noticed the fifth time in ten minutes that his son was looking back.

\- Ya, son, let her. He'll get over it.

The only thing he needed was for his parents to make fun of the whole situation.

As soon as they reached the mansion, Ran could not help but sigh in amazement. It was not expected to be so big, or so luxurious.

\- Oh, but now you'll see how my dear Ran-chan is inside. Come, I'll show you the rooms. And the kitchen, I hope that tonight you teach me how to make one of your delicious dishes. Shinichi has told me a lot about them.

\- Really? - to Shinichi's surprise, he turned to him and gave her a brief smile. I guess it would be fine, gladly, I'd love to help her Yukiko-san.

\- Hey, hey, do not call me that. Okay, guys - he turned to his son and husband -. You take care of your luggage, I'll show Ran around.

Without more practically dragging the girl into the house.

Yuusako took the opportunity to laugh again at the face of his son's frustration.

Shinichi, bad-tempered, entered the house carrying the suitcases.

He did not think much about it and put both bags in what had been his room. If Ran needed anything of his, he would have to go after him.

But he thought better, Ran was behaving strangely, maybe he needed his space. But he was dying to know what was happening to him.

He was moving her things into the guest room that was in front of the hall when he saw her go up the stairs.

As she supposed, she immediately looked down in embarrassment.

\- Hello, why are you carrying my things?

\- I was taking you to your room - he pointed with a gesture - I thought you might need a bit of privacy. Hey Ran ... are you okay?

\- Maybe ... - to evade his question made Shinichi even more suspicious - and you ... Where will you sleep? I mean, your room ... We ...

\- It's the one right behind you - I doubt a moment -. Is that a proposition? I could do no harm, you know ...

He smiled at her but did not get the answer he expected, as Ran grew redder if possible and came striding closer to him.

\- Idiot. Cannot you understand how I feel now?

Leaving him totally disconcerted, he snatched his things and locked himself in his room with a slam.

The situation was already exceeding him so he decided to enter but at that moment his father called him.

A few seconds later her worried mother appeared looking for Ran, who apparently had only disappeared from her side to go to the bathroom.

He decided that for the moment Yukiko would take care of his girlfriend, until they could talk.

But it did not happen for the rest of the night.

When he left the library followed by his father, they both went to the kitchen attracted by a delicious aroma.

They both stood in the doorway, looking at their women in kitchen aprons, preparing dinner. The two chatted animatedly exchanging cooking tips and other things that neither Shinichi nor his father understood but could not help but smile at seeing them so entertaining.

After a few minutes, they decided to leave them alone again.

The dinner, luckily for all, was nice. Shinichi did not like to sit in front of Ran (he would have liked to be closer), but he was happy the moment his parents brought up anecdotes that they remembered from them as children.

Some managed to embarrass both of them, but in the end both young people ended up laughing out loud.

Luckily they had managed to lift his spirits.

At last everyone decided it was better to go to rest.

Shinichi was frustrated to realize that he had not yet been able to chat with Ran about his plans for the next day.

When they climbed the stairs to the first floor, their parents went to their room and both could not help but hesitate a few seconds in the hall, uncomfortable.

Of course he had not missed Yukiko's mocking comments, he had made it very clear that it did not bother him at all to find them together in the morning.

\- Well, I see we did not make a bad choice to come here, your parents are great. - Ran turned and gave him a slight smile

\- Yes, I'm glad you were entertained. Hey Ran, are you really okay? If it's because of that stupid challenge, you can forget it ... I just want to ... - He came over to put a hand on her cheek but she pulled away.

\- I ... it's not that. I just need to rest. Yes, it must be that. Good evening, Shinichi.

He who expected at least a kiss goodbye, froze when he saw that without more Ran turned around and entered his room.

He looked like a fool watching the wood, with great intentions of turning it over but he thought better of it.

Maybe she was in her most sensitive days, (she blushed at the thought of it), and if that was it, she did not want to make her condition worse.

Discouraged, thinking what he had done wrong that day he went to his room.

... ..

Neither of them could fall asleep.

Two, three hours passed without anyone stopping tossing and turning on the sheets.

They felt that something was missing.

Ran felt that the cold consumed her despite having the heater on for that time of year.

Shinichi felt guilty, could not stop remembering the things he had done in the day, looking for some clue to discover what was happening to his girlfriend.

When they could not take it anymore, they went to the door.

They were frozen when they saw that the same thing was happening in front of them.

\- Shi ... Shinichi ... - barely managed to mumble Ran.

She saw him through the faint light coming through her room and noticed that he seemed to be suffering as much as she did. Dark circles began to surround his eyes.

\- Ran ... - He approached slowly without knowing very well what would be his reaction -. I'm sorry Ran, I'll do what you want but please, do not get away from me anymore. This is torture. I need to know what happens to you, if I did something wrong. I need you, baby. I cannot rest if you're not by my side ... would you come with me?

He held out a hand, and that was more than enough for her to throw herself into his arms.

\- Shinichi ... - He soon felt how his arms surrounded her strong, more than normal.

He could not help but burst into tears and he kissed her and stroked her hair as he comforted her.

She felt stupid but let herself be carried away for a few seconds by her warmth.

\- Oh, Ran. I love you, I love you very much. It shows that we cannot be separated. - He noticed as she nodded against his chest and more calm -. I'm sorry if I've done something that ...

\- If you accept that you are an idiot, I forgive you.

\- an idiot?

They separated for a few seconds to look each other in the eye. Immediately she lowered her gaze

\- For a moment, when I saw that you were bringing my luggage to another room and I thought you would not want to sleep with me anymore ... - She blushed -. I thought that somehow this afternoon I had disappointed you ..

\- What? What are you talking about?

Remembering that they were in the middle of the aisle, Shinichi took her in his arms and despite her insistence, he did not stop until he left her on his bed.

He closed the door and faced her.

Seeing her so shy, huddled against the headboard, made her anger lessen.

She approached him and caressed a flushed cheek

\- How could I be disappointed, honey? I do not understand.

New tears began to fall down his face.

\- You ... I regret having been so selfish, is that while I bathed today I was thinking about us ... In all the time we live together. I mean ... we know each other for a lifetime. And the truth is that I never think I could get used to not being by your side. I always want to accompany you, whatever happens, but I would not like to be a nuisance in your life either. I cannot walk making tantrums every time you get involved in a case, it would not be fair. I ... I wanted to see if he could prove to me how much I could get away from you. I was thinking about how I could survive without you after these weeks pass. "She paused and lowered her eyes in distress but took advantage to draw out her anguish. There's also the fact that you've seen me naked, and the truth is that I have little experience in ...

\- Oh silly ... was it just that?

At last he understood what was going on in his head. He could not help but giggle.

\- How come that? You do not know all the things that ...

He broke off as his lips rested on hers.

It was a warm, slow kiss that comforted her. At last he had what he had expected all afternoon.

He soon put his arms around her neck, and he did not move away but deepened the kiss.

When she pulled back to breathe, she felt Shinichi rubbing his lips over her neck, like a caress. Instinctively she cradled her head against his chest.

A few seconds later he raised his face, also flushed but smiling.

\- You're beautiful, silly. If you do not believe it, I will repeat it to you until you notice it. You are perfect sweetheart, I would never be disappointed in your body - he returned to caress her face and kiss her on the lips -. You do not have to doubt so much about you, you are the woman I have chosen to share all my life and I never regret it. You are always going to be part of it so get used to the idea. I do not want you to turn away from me again, ever. Oh, and I'm sorry if my answer was slow the moment I saw you. I thought you were going to get mad if I tried to jump on you. Believe it or not, that went through my head. I don't know where you got that idea, although you have seen me nose bleeding after seeing you naked several times. Have you forgotten my love? See I easily get excited when you around me that's why being Conan I hate intimate closeness to you because I could not control my exciteness.

\- Really?

\- You so anxious ... Do you want me to show you know what I thought to do to you?

More animated than ever, he dedicated himself to whispering tender words of love on her face and neck.

He did not want to try much, despite his protests, but promised he would go slowly.

It was going to be the first time for both of them so I wanted to make sure they enjoyed it to the fullest

A few minutes later he found her head resting on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

Both were already exhausted.

\- Hey Shinichi ...

\- Mmmm - instinctively he squeezed her harder at his side.

The legs of both were intertwined

\- In the end you were right, you won. I cannot be far from you, it was torture. I suppose I should look for another way to take revenge on you.

She felt like he was smiling on his head.

I know you made me think I 'm pedophile and child-molester then when I meet Conan I would take revenge.

\- No, please do not do it. No revenge for now ...

She laughed and lifted her head to look at him.

\- Hey Shinichi ... - encouraged him to open his eyes and look at her. - I love you.

He stood a few seconds watching her and framed her face again in his hands.

\- I love you too, Ran. Never forget.

He kissed her softly on the lips and pressed her against his chest, where he should always be ...

Osaka City

Heiji was already getting upset with so much waiting, lately he was more restless than usual.

Of course, I wanted to know how things were going on between your best friend and your girl. I could not wait to mock; I had noticed it too excited the last time they had spoken.

But since he had become, he knew nothing about Shinichi, he imagined him enjoying it in a big way, while he was already getting impatient.

With Kazuha they had already gone to visit several places that they could take their friends with, and it had been customary for her to go by her house every day to go out with her.

Without thinking much and with nothing else to do, he went to visit his friend.

Mrs. Toyama met him at the door, just as her daughter was, she also always looked very optimistic and cheerful, but this time her usual smile did not find her.

He became alert.

\- Oh Heiji dear, how are you? Have you come looking for Kazuha, are not you? I'm sorry to tell you that he is not at home now.

\- What is not at home? But he told me nothing about going out today. I thought I'd take her for a walk.

How strange, Kazuha had not told him that he had other plans, he had taken it for granted that he was free for him.

\- Oh, honey, you're always so attentive, you know, I'm very glad that my Kazuha has chosen you - seeing the boy's involuntary blush finally smiled -. But I'm afraid you have to be more attentive dear or the boy who came to look for it before I could take it from you.

\- What? Did someone come to look for her?

That could not be, Kazuha would not dare to go out with someone else. Who else would want to do it?

He did not know why he began to have a bad feeling.

\- Yes, I think it was ... - Mrs. Toyama took a few seconds to remember -. Oh, if Kunisue Teruaki, the college student who lives next door, remember? He's on vacation for a while and I think he said something about taking Kazuha to a nearby park but I do not remember very well which one exactly.

Kunisue? That damn…

He was behind Kazuha, he knew, but why had he taken his friend's amulet knowing it was not his? It was enough to return it when realizing the error.

That had made them both go to Tokyo in his search waiting for him to return it, but Heiji knew it was just an excuse to see Kazuha again.

Hell, on top of that little girl who was sure to fall trapped by some of her charms, I could not let her be deceived.

\- Yes, I remember it well, I know who that guy is. I will bring your daughter back, do not worry, I will not let her do anything bad to our Kazhua - without much else she said goodbye to her friend's mother and left again towards the street.

For his luck, he could not see, he did not see Mrs. Toyama broadening his smile.

That Kazuha ... as she dared to leave without telling her with another boy. I would charge them.

...

\- Come on Kazuha, I do not think you have any other choice. Get out with me

The girl was cornered. I did not expect Kunisue to be blackmailing her like that.

It had been his fault, a careless one. What was he thinking about when he put the Heiji photo on his amulet? It never occurred to him that anyone could discover his great secret.

And now I was in a huge mess.

\- Sorry, Kunisue-kun I cannot go with you, I thought you could understand me. You're not the boy I like and you know it - he could not help but blush.

\- Then I have no choice but to tell Hattori what I found inside your amulet. And I was the one who ruined that picture.

\- No, please, do not do it. I could not stand such humiliation

Both were sitting on a bench in a park two blocks from their homes, Kazuha had been surprised by the visit of his former neighbor (and now a student at the university in Tokyo), but had never expected to blackmail in this way. Until that time he had considered his friend.

He was handsome, blond with blue eyes, with a physique that any girl would want to be her boyfriend, but she was not interested in him at all.

To his bad luck, without waiting for him he had confessed and had made it clear that if they did not go out together during his vacation, he would confess his secret to Hattori. He could not let her do something like that, Heiji would surely make fun of her for life.

When the boy was ready to leave, he stopped him by grabbing his arm.

\- Hey you know I do not like anything what you're doing to me. You are not fair, I thought you were my friend Why cannot you find another girl in Tokyo with whom you can go out and see her as much as you want? Surely there will be a girl who knows how to really appreciate you, not like me.

The boy turned his eyes to her and looked at her for a few seconds.

\- Well, because so far I have not found another girl that I like as much as you, Kazuha-chan. Think about it, it will only be for a few weeks. And if in the end you want us to continue, I would not oppose, you know ...

\- Hey, hey, what did not you hear that you just say NO damn pervert?

\- Heiji!

Of course he had discovered them and they saw him coming from some bushes behind him.

Before anyone reacted, he stood in front of Kazuha and pointed at his "enemy" with a threatening finger.

\- What? Cannot you accept being rejected? Get out of here to look for women your age and do not you dare to approach Kazuha-chan, because you will regret it.

Kunisue smiled.

\- And who are you supposed to be? For all I know, you're not her boyfriend, so she could go out with you. - to challenge him increased Heiji's anger

\- Yes, whatever you say, but you are not the chosen one so go away - unconsciously he stretched his hands back and held Kazuha against him.

\- Heiji ... you ...

\- Oh, I see, with what you're jealous. Come on, I do not like to say it, but I'm in the lead, because I know something about Kazuha that you do not. That makes me a good candidate, right?

Why did Kunisue behave like this? I could not let him keep talking, he was going to ruin everything.

\- Please, Kunisue-kun do not say anything else - managed to let go of his friend and to his surprise he went ahead.

Heiji soon understood his behavior and before he moved closer to the other boy, he stopped her by the arms and looked at her. She could see concern in his eyes.

\- Kazuha -chan ... You ... he's blackmailing you, is not it? You can not go out with him, I will not let you. Tell me what it is you know, it must not be so terrible, nothing that I do not know, right? Have not I always told you that you can trust me?

He could not keep his face flushing and small tears began to come out of his eyes.

\- I ... no ... It's not that I do not trust you Heiji is that ... - She looked down rather than embarrassed and began to squeeze her sweater.

\- Oh, God, let's stop with dramas. Okay, from what I see, you will not go with me, my dear Kazuha-chan, so I think I do not have to keep this secret anymore. I hope that one day you will forgive me and that you will see it as a favor I give you. - Defiant returned the glance to Heiji, who had returned to concentrate on him -. I know who the boy Kazuha is in love with.

...

What?

Your Kazuha in love? Whose?

He looked at her for a few seconds while she continued to look at the floor, trying to unite the millions of thoughts that passed through her head at that moment.

No, it could not be true. Otherwise, you would have noticed, right?

Unable to avoid it, he laughed.

\- Hey, hey, I'm not kidding. How could a boy like Kazuha? I'm sure I would know it before you, you imbecile.

\- No, you would not realize if the idiot is you ...

There was a silence that left the girl totally petrified and pale, knowing the conclusions that Heiji was drawing at that moment.

\- What do you want to say? That the person who ... likes Kazuha ... is it me? He blushed, but needing to know the truth, he turned to her, and lifted her pale face with his hands. Is that ... is it true Kazuha-chan? You love Me?

She spent a few seconds gawking at him.

He was already there, he could not hide the truth for longer, although he regretted that it happened that way.

He nodded.

But he was not going to let himself be beaten so easily, he was going to show that he could come out of it all with his head held high.

\- Well, you see. You can tell I do not have good taste, do not you think? - Making his best effort, he smiled weakly at him although he was unable to continue to see Heiji (who had turned to stone) and turned to Kunisue -. If you think that everything will be fine between us now, forget it. I will never forgive you.

Before anyone could stop her, she let go of Heiji completely and ran home.

I did not want to see the face of his friend, when I finally understood everything.

Sometimes Hattori Heiji could be quite slow.

Shinichi woke up feeling the sun's rays on his face.

He was too comfortable to move. He lowered and looked and smiled.

Ran was still sound asleep, using her chest as a pillow. He hoped to recover his body definitely as quickly as possible because he would miss sleeping next to him that way.

His smile widened at the thought of surprise for the next day. Although maybe I could move things forward for that same night ...

Thinking about that, he could not prevent his body from reacting unconsciously and he moved to try to endure a bit more of that sweet torture.

Ran felt his movement because he slowly opened his eyes. Resting a hand on his chest, he lifted his head and looked at him sleepily.

\- Hello ... - his radiant smile hypnotized him for a few seconds.

\- Good morning, sleeping beauty. I'm sorry if I woke you up. - He gently stroked her cheek.

\- Mmm ... do not worry, it's nice to wake up like that with you - he lifted his face a little more and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

Shinichi chuckled as he heard her purr softly as he settled back on top of him. He stroked her hair rhythmically as he embraced her again.

It had been a long time since I felt so calm.

\- Well ... What are your plans for today? - Ran muttered while he could not help yawning.

\- Well, I do not know. I thought we could go out this afternoon to the place you choose.

\- Really? - noticing that he nodded, exclaimed delighted -. Then I want me to go visit the Holmes museum! - He raised his face to see his reaction -. The last time we could not enjoy it. What do you say?

I really wish we were.

Shinichi could not disguise the excitement in his eyes.

\- If you really agree, I'd love it! Thank you my love - he gently took her lips and was amazed when Ran soon corresponded and deepened the kiss.

It was missing less, soon it would be yours ...

Reluctantly he broke away from her and smiled at her as he stroked her face.

\- I love you, Ran - she smiled stupidly -. You know, I would like nothing more than to stay like this all day but I guess Mom will soon come to bother us ..

She sighed, she knew she was right. What would they think but her parents?

\- With what you thought about that, it's enough for me. - He kissed her on the cheek and got up from the bed, ready to get up -. I better go, I want to take a shower and I do not have any clothes here because "someone" left the clothes in the other room.

His tone wanted to sound like a reproach, but it did not last long, as soon as he saw the mocking glance of Shinichi, who raised his arms in a gesture of feigned innocence.

\- Hey, hey, do not blame me, I do not have to go around interpreting what women think. Mainly, you and my mother. Remember that not a clue you gave me, so that I would realize what was going through your head ... Hey! - He could not help laughing when Ran threw a pillow over his head.

\- You, you are a macho! - Furious tried to turn to leave but he went ahead and hugged her waist from behind.

\- Well if you're fickle in the morning ... - he whispered weakly in the ear -. Sorry, Ran, even if you say what you say, I know you will not last long your anger - blushing but lively gave him a gentle kiss on the neck - I love you, had I told you?

That whisper was enough for her to forgive him. He sighed and turned in his arms.

\- I know and I love you, although I like it more when you show me - she also smiled and feeling daring I kiss him deeply.

Shinichi did not take long to respond and when they ran out of air, he did not move away but he directed his lips towards her neck.

Ran could not help but arch himself to the caress, and when he saw her he was about to break his promise. If this kept up, it could not be controlled for much longer.

Just at that moment, he knocked on the door, his savior.

\- Ran-chan, Shin-chan I know you're there. Get up, I have breakfast ready for you.

She regretted the introduction but Shinichi sighed in relief.

\- Good, this was getting interesting but I think we can leave it for later. Do not you think?

Ran looked at him for a few seconds while a blush deepened in his face. In Shinichi's eyes, the desire in his eyes was clearly visible.

Died of shame she only managed to nod from her head before heading towards the door.

After making sure Yukiko is not around, he ran to his room.

...

After breakfast, the couple prepared to spend the whole day outside.

Despite the insistence of Shinichi's mother, they would not return at lunchtime, as they had planned to go through some businesses looking for gifts.

Ran knew how angry Sonoko would be if she did not bring him a memory. Until now it was still serving as a cover.

He had talked to his father the previous afternoon, and apparently he still did not suspect anything, still enjoying his impromptu vacations. I cannot help but feel a little anxious, more enthusiastic than usual, mainly when he asked him how he was doing with his mother. Maybe when they returned, they would finally reconcile.

They had lunch in a small bar and before heading to the Holmes Museum they went to Madame Tussad. They could not help taking pictures without stopping, amazed, while watching the wonderful wax replicas.

For Shinichi it was impossible not to show his great emotion when they entered the house on Baker Street. Ran could not help laughing, seeing him, he seemed like a child and could not help thinking about Conan.

Of course he was more than happy, now he could at last know the place at his whim and sit in the famous armchair with his true form.

Ran felt that he had his own guide, Shinichi soon told him stories about everything they saw.

Nothing seemed to be able to stop it, I was really happy.

Finally, as it was not a very spacious place, at two hours they had to retire to let new visitors pass. A guard at the entrance looked at them as if they were suspects.

Shinichi already back in the street, was still telling excited another of the adventures of his idol when his phone rang.

\- Oh, it's dad. Maybe you want to tell me you've discovered something about the alleged murderer. "He gestured for them to slow down a bit and he attended.

Ran did not take long to notice the change in his face. Shinichi paled and his eyes, previously laughing, now looked alarmed, frightened.

He could not understand what the whole conversation was about because of how fast it was developing. Apparently it was not good news.

\- Dad, you cannot ask me to do this. If he were to escape ... Yes ... yes I know but ... Rays! - He looked at his cell phone with disgust -. Damn battery ...

Ran seized the moment, took him by the hand and forced him to look at him.

\- Shinichi, what happened? ... Something bad, right?

He seemed to remember her presence and tried to soften her face, but he could not fool her.

\- You know you can count on me, tell me.

Shinichi took a few seconds, before giving a deep sigh.

\- It's supposed to not have interrupted us. I told dad clearly not to call me unless it was important and ...

\- It is, is not it? what happened? Tell me ... "She turned to see if anyone was paying attention before whispering. Was there another murder?

Shinichi stared at her for a moment, before answering. To his relief, that same morning, together with his father, he had been told about the case, so he did not have to tell him so many details now. The time was against him.

\- Are you sure you want to know? It could be dangerous…

\- I do not care, I'll help you in anything, please Shinichi do not leave me now.

He only surrendered his eyes before, it was obvious that he was not going to let it go. Besides, now that he thought about it, he could help her.

\- Remember dad was looking for data on the possible killer? Well it seems that in the latter case, he made a mistake and they were able to make traces of his DNA. Her name is Elisabeth Conor. Apparently, she is a social worker who worked with all the wives of the murdered men. All filed complaints of abuse and she was in charge of taking their cases. It is seen that really his mental state is not right, because he decided to personally take revenge for each one of those women ... - he inspired deeply before continuing. - What really matters now, is that he is in his office a few blocks from here, supposedly in his office, and dad has already sent a group from Scotland Yard to arrest her. However, I do not think they will arrive on time, apparently all this information was leaked to the press. It's just that she,

Ran took his time to process the information. But there was no doubt about what they had to do.

\- Okay. So what do we expect, detective? Let's go for it!

Not near, it was close to the plan that Shinichi had thought. Now he regretted having followed the flow to Ran's delusions.

She had gotten a bath nearby and with a little of her makeup, she had completely transformed her face. All this was due to what he had learned from Sonoko, for the number of times he had disguised himself in his attempts to scare her.

He had bruised his face, mostly under his eyes, and added more marks on his arms.

They knew that the murderer was in his office in the social services, because Shinichi's father had confirmed them. But his work schedule was half an hour away. Its objective was only to delay it, while it arrived at the police.

Ran thought of posing as one of the many victims who came to his aid.

Shinichi did not like the idea of leaving her alone, with someone so dangerous, but he was not going to leave her alone. What I most hated was seeing his face, but Ran took it with humor.

\- Come on, come on Shinichi, what could happen to me? If you suspect anything, I promise to attack you with my karate. "He winked enthusiastically.

\- Whatever you say, I will accompany you.

They were already in front of the offices, and they prepared to enter.

Shinichi was relieved that no TV was nearby, or anything that would make the killer suspicious. There were also no other people in the place, apparently they were arriving at the last minute.

The receptionist, an elderly lady (apparently as much as the building), attended them in the hall and did not seem surprised by the state of what Ran looked like. He even looked at them with indifference.

\- Excuse me, is Mrs. Conor there? - Shinichi almost could not help but smile at noticing the exaggerated Ran's lameness.

\- Let's see what I can do ... Tell me what your business is, who you are and why you are looking for Elisabeth. I can notice that they are not from here. - from behind huge glasses he looked at her impatiently.

\- Well ... - Ran took a few seconds before continuing with his performance - the truth is that I'm here recently. He comes traveling with my husband ... and ... I did not know what he could do to me and how he sees ... so end ...- surprisingly forced tears fell from his eyes as he rolled up his coat and showed him the alleged bruises, -. When I went to make the complaint, the police recommended that I come here.

\- Yes, if typical history. They never know how their partner is, until they bring out their true character. Too many of your cases I see by day dear, so you will not be able to surprise me. - Without much more, and to the surprise of both, he pulled a blank sheet from his desk -. Now their names. Let's finish these formalities and I'll pass the data to the social worker. Who are they?

Shinichi's face clearly showed how his anger was increasing.

\- Well, my name is Shini ... - he almost let out a howl of pain when Ran discreetly stomped on him.

He looked at it as a warning.

\- Conan, her name is Conan, ma'am. And my name is Ran ... Mouri - he could not think of another name in his place, one he could remember without becoming suspicious -. You see, he's just my brother and he does not talk much, really. - his eyes looked back at her brightly, it seemed that at any moment, he would burst into tears. -. It was he who rescued me.

\- Mmm with your brother ... I see. There must be very little difference in age ... - however, the old woman did not seem to notice anything strange, because she continued with her notes - Ok, now take a seat over there - she indicated chairs at the end of a corridor -. If Mrs. Conor is already unemployed, I'll make her take your case. "He looked at Shinichi. Although I do not think I want to see you, boy. I prepare you to leave. Elisabeth does not like men at all ... You can imagine, things of the trade ... - with that comment in the air, he left the room and left them alone.

\- But what kind of character does that woman have ... I feel like sending her a kick in ...

\- Shh ... Ran, do not get exalted. We do not have to make him suspect in us. Remember that we have something else in mind - Shinichi did not like the manners of the old woman either, but they could not do anything - with what your cousin eh? Could not you have invented something more real?

Ran turned to him, amused

\- And what did you want me to do? You must also thank me for coming to your aid. You almost gave away your own identity ...

Shinichi was going to reply, but luckily he stopped.

\- Miss Mouri? I'm Elisabeth, they told me they needed my help ...

At last, his prey was in front of his eyes. All his detective instincts were on alert as soon as he saw her.

Her bright, alert eyes and striking carelessness in her appearance made her look dangerous. He had no doubt that she was the one.

When he set his eyes on Shinichi, it became clear that he did not like his presence.

\- Please come in, Miss Mouri I will gladly attend to your case - he gestured to a door behind her -. However ... - He looked at him contemptuously -. The gentleman should stay.

Mr? Who would think he was?

Ran seemed to be silent for a moment. Shinichi turned and noticed how he tried to hide a laugh.

Hey, hey, they were in a dangerous case. And she dared to laugh at him?

He was not going to let her stay alone, that's for sure. Luckily, before he reacted, Ran had regained his composure.

\- Thank you very much Mrs. Conor for receiving me ... I am sorry for the surprise of all this but ...

\- There's nothing to apologize, dear. I suppose one is not prepared for these things, so it happens - Shinichi had no doubt that he wanted to attract all possible attention from Ran -. Come on, come on ...

He was sure that he was going to get all the information about that supposed husband, and then include him in his list of victims. Her father had already warned her that the suspect was an inveterate feminist.

\- Please, can Conan accompany me? You will see he was the one who helped me ... and I need him by my side ...

Elisabeth waved her hand impatiently.

\- All right, as you want, as long as he stays quiet. You are the victim here, not him.

Shinichi, concentrating to the maximum not to answer anything, stood up and concealed trying to help Ran stand up.

She complained, and with supposed tears in her eyes, entered the office. He entered behind her back, wished with all his strength, to take her by the hand but did not want to look at all suspicious.

As soon as they took a seat Elisabeth did it in front of them.

\- Well, the fact that your brother is here Ran, is something unusual. But I cannot help it. I have things to do later, so I guess I cannot be delayed - Shinichi did not miss a glint of mischief in his eyes. Well ... let's see, honey. Tell me everything that happened to you, please. Let's see what we can do to that bastard ...

She seemed surprised by the surprising way of speaking, but luckily she recovered quickly.

Shinichi for the first time appreciated the ease with which she cried, because it was not difficult for him to do so while telling Elisabeth the supposed torture she had gone through.

Supposedly Shinichi, had gone looking for him, after days of not knowing about his whereabouts. As the devoted brother he was, he had not hesitated to travel from the other side of the world in his search. Apparently he had always suspected that something was not wrong.

Typical of Ran, to pass it off as a hero.

When she finally finished talking and Elisabeth finished all her notes to Shinichi there was no doubt that she was the person they were looking for.

However, both began to get nervous, before their new questions. She wanted me to explain, all the pain for what had happened, every detail.

Ran could invent some things, but in the end he did not know what else to say so he lowered his head, pretending to be affected. Shinichi surreptitiously put his hand on her lap in support.

Now more than before he regretted having put her in this mess. But his father had said that it would take the police about ten minutes more to arrive.

I was thinking about how to indicate to Ran by gestures, that he would better use his karate when his thoughts were interrupted.

\- Do not worry, Ran honey. You will pass. You'll see that soon I'll take care of this matter and ... I'm sorry, I have to attend. - his phone had started to sound insistent -. Oh, I see you already have the data. Perfect .. what? A mistake? No, it cannot be.

Shinichi immediately became alert, that could not be good. Had they been discovered?

She confirmed it as soon as she hung up the phone, and gave them a frightening look that froze both of them suddenly.

\- Do you want to explain to me what is happening here? The receptionist just called me, I asked her to confirm all her data and it turns out that apparently none of her stories is true. ... And that's not all - suddenly he stood up -. The police are at the door, looking for me! Can anyone tell me who the hell are you?

When he yelled at them he had finally taken out all his character.

Shinichi soon rose to his feet.

\- I'm Shinichi Kudo, detective. And I'm here to make sure you pay for what you've done ...

\- Detective, you say? Do you think that a boy like you can against me ...? And you - I point to the girl -. I almost believe everything. Come on Ran, I see that nothing you told me is true, but I hope that he is not really your partner ... I imagined that you were more intelligent dear ...

The aforementioned woman jumped up and quickly put herself in attack position.

\- What if it was?

Ran yelled a scream.

Elisabeth, in a fit of rage, had pushed the desk that separated them with a kick.

Shinichi, instinctively, pushed Ran against one of the sides to keep her from getting hurt, but immediately regretted having done so.

Taking advantage of the situation, Elisabeth had caught her and clumsily from among her clothes she had taken out a knife, which I do not hesitate to press against her neck.

He laughed when he saw Shinichi's disfigured face.

\- Look now how helpless you look, my young detective ... Do not you dare to approach her or she will pay dearly.

Shinichi looked at Ran's trail, but clearly everything was against him. He squeezed her so hard she was having trouble breathing, much less letting go. His watery eyes (now with real tears) looked at him pleadingly.

\- Now, what you have to do is go out, explain to those meddling policemen what happens here and that I will not leave unless they clear my way to the street.

Shinichi realized that you did not have many options. He still did not know what was going to happen, but what he wanted most at that moment was to reassure Ran.

\- You do not know how sorry I have been in all this, honey. You will see that everything will end soon.

He stared at her for a few seconds, hoping to reassure her. She opened her huge eyes in response, fully trusted him, could not panic. I had to be careful if I could think of a plan to escape.

Shinichi wished at that moment to have trained in some martial art like Ran, so he could protect her.

As there were no more options left and Elisabeth pressed the knife harder and harder against her neck until it bled, she decided.

\- Okay, I'll do what you say, but you have to protect me that you will not hurt him anymore. She is not to blame for anything, and you know it.

\- I do not think you're in a position to decide a detective, so you better go before you lose your patience. Oh, apparently I see someone calling you.

\- Shinichi, are you there?

Damn, his father was also there. Although thinking about it better, surely that was a point in his favor.

He took a deep breath and finally turned his back on the women to go out the door.

Shinichi found the situation out of reach.

I could not reach it clearly, given how dangerous everything was for Ran.

Damn it, he had no choice but to go out, out where his father and a bunch of cops were waiting for them.

He came out with his hands up, slowly, hoping that no idiot would think to shoot.

\- Shinichi ... - his father had to suspect that something was happening - And Ran? - He was in the front line of the attack group and with relief Shinichi noticed that he was protected with a bulletproof vest.

\- I ... I'm so sorry dad - he had to clear his throat to continue -. He has it, he has Ran as a hostage. I ... I could not help it- Tears of frustration and fear shone through his eyes.

But he had to be strong and intelligent if they wanted to get out of this and save Ran. She straightened and cooled her thoughts, she did not need him to waste any more time.

\- There is a hostage inside - he headed towards the assault group -. The suspect is armed with a knife pointing at the victim and asks to clear the place to release it.

\- But son ... we do not know if he'll really let go if we let him get away with it maybe ...

\- I know dad - Shinichi hardened his eyes -. But I do not think Elisabeth is a very reasonable person ...

From inside the room there was a moan of pain.

\- That's what you have, Mr. Detective. For making me wait so long. Now you have five seconds left to let us pass or your girlfriend will bleed right here. Oh and another thing, I want you to stay ahead of us where I can see you and I hope you do not even think of doing anything stupid. One….

Shinichi paled. If he had dared to do the least damage to his Ran ...

His father luckily reacted before him and sent the policemen back.

\- Do not worry Shinichi, we'll get through this. We will not pull away - before he could refuse, Yusaku handed his son the weapon he wore around his waist -. Hide it and use it in case of emergency, you know.

Shinichi nodded, paler than ever and accepted it by hiding the gun in his clothes knowing what that meant. I thought to use it only in an extreme case of life or death, because that would mean that it would terribly hurt Ran ... I did not know if I could live with that but I knew that without her by his side he preferred to die.

Before she could fully order her thoughts, the door behind him opened, and Elisabeth appeared still holding on to Ran.

\- Very good boy, you are more intelligent than I thought. Now walk in front of me until the exit, come on, walk.

Shinichi did not pay attention, he only had eyes for the delicate drops of blood that sprang intermittently from his girlfriend's neck.

\- One moment, you promised me that you would not hurt him and you did it. How can I trust you?

She stayed for a few seconds staring at him, surprised.

\- You, do not you dare put my words into play. The one who has everything to lose is you, so walk fast if you do not want to end her right now.

Shinichi, who was still staring at Ran, noticed how she slowly moved her head in agreement.

He interpreted the gesture, as a sign that it would hold. He could also notice how he fought inside so that his tears would not flow

He knew that Ran was doing everything he could to help him, she was strong after all, they would come out of this, together.

He smiled slightly and nodded and turned around and headed for the exit.

As expected, the policemen were in the street surrounding them again. They were a group of twenty agents, all pointing forward. His father at the front carried a loudspeaker, apparently he was going to act as a negotiator. If he gave him the time for that.

Before Elisabeth realized it, he took the opportunity to turn around, surprising her.

Without hesitation he pulled out his father's gun and pointed.

\- Now you know you will not get away with your Elisabeth, so let go of Ran. You do not have an escape.

The assassin, seeing herself cornered, backed away a few steps but had to turn around as soon as she noticed there were cops behind her. Apparently some agents had stayed in the background, trapping her.

She turned to everyone who was pointing at her and laughed, a hysterical laugh flowed from her lips that scared everyone.

\- Very smart Mr. Detective. But still you think you'll get away with it? I do not believe it. You would never shoot at me, knowing that her life is in danger - before he could react he pricked the sharp knife a few inches more of Ran's delicate neck.

Already the blood flowed freely and the pallor of his face was evident

Shinichi was still pointing, firm

\- Maybe he will not do it, but the rest of us will have no mercy against you, so surrender now Elisabeth - Shinichi had never heard his father so serious in his life - He knows he will not get out of this, so let him free to the hostage.

Her eyes looked frightening, bloodshot.

\- Mmmm I do not think it meets your requests, I'm sorry

It was a reaction of a few seconds. So many things happened that Shinichi felt as if he had lost consciousness.

He watched as Elisabeth raised the knife to finally nail him to Ran's neck, and prepared to shoot, knowing what that would mean when he heard a shout from a few meters behind him.

A voice that was not from his father and that had an accent in Japanese.

\- DO NOT DO IT KUDO! GET DOWN!

That voice ... it could not be that he was there, could he?

But he did not have much time to think too much, he would leave Ran's fate in his hands.

He bent down a thousandth of a second before a bullet hit his cheek.

Before his astonishment the projectile struck directly in the hand that held the knife that would have ended Ran's life ... and with his own if it had happened.

Elisabeth howled in pain, surprised and held her injured hand while releasing her hostage.

Shinichi did not waste any more time and approached her before the rest of the cops. Surprised by what had happened, since no one had given the order to shoot.

-Ran ... Ran ... - Luckily Shinichi came to his side before she was stamped against the ground and held her with his arms, with his hands he tried to keep it from bleeding. Ran ... reacts please.

She was with her eyes closed, but upon hearing it she opened them and smiled weakly at him.

\- Shinichi, I knew you would rescue me - he stroked her cheek with a bloody hand seeing how tense his face was -. Do not worry anymore, I'm fine.

He did not agree. His wound did not seem very deep at the end but it still did not stop bleeding.

\- Silly, do not ever scare me like that again. Where is your karate supposed to be in situations like this? - Already the adrenaline was diminishing and collapsed on the ground without releasing it; His face was stuck to her sweet neck, sucking in her sweet scent.

He heard her slightly laugh.

\- If you want you can be my victim so that he does not lose the practice.

Shinichi could not believe he was joking with those things. He turned to rebuke her when his father came running towards them.

To his right, he felt a group of police officers lash out at Elisabeth, who was still howling in pain on the floor.

\- Shinichi, ... Ran ... Are you okay? What a fright they gave us - Shinichi had not seen his father so pale either.

\- Dad ... thanks. I'm fine but Ran ... - managed to straighten it, without letting go yet because he knew he was still weak -. Ran still this wound ...

His father reacted immediately and turned to the others.

\- Let a doctor get closer. The hostage is injured!

Neither Shinichi nor Ran remembered well what happened next.

They were both escorted to the ambulance.

Shinichi did not move away from his side and held his hand all the way to the hospital. I'm not letting you harass her with questions.

He knew that she needed to rest and he was more than willing to respond in his place.

In the end, although she said that she felt good, they decided to sedate her so that she could practice a small suture and let her rest. The doctors confided to Shinichi that it was more likely that he was still in shock.

He could not resist.

Luckily his father had arranged all the paperwork for Ran's admission and they had no problem with the paperwork.

While being interned in a room, only for monitoring, Shinichi was forced to wait in the hallway.

And it was when his parents finally showed up.

\- Oh, Shinichi ... Shinichi! - Yukiko was the first to pounce on him and hug him tight -. Shinichi, son, is it really okay? All this blood ...

His mother moved away frightened when contemplating it more carefully.

And he just noticed his appearance.

He had not noticed the blood stains all over his clothes and his neck, arms and hands.

\- Tell me, Shinichi. Tell me that is not your blood ...

It was also a surprise to see his mother so upset. From her eyes, huge crystalline tears kept trickling down her face, ruining her makeup but she did not seem to mind at all.

\- I ... I'm fine mom ... do not worry. This blood is from Ran, she ... - seeing Yukiko that way made her finally explode.

He embraced her as if his life depended on that and took refuge for the first time in his warm arms.

... ..

After two intense hours, the interrogation finally ended.

His father had made sure that the names of the teenagers did not come out into the public sphere.

Elisabeth had been immediately taken to the prison and they hoped that soon she would be condemned for her murders and the kidnapping of Ran

Shinichi on the other hand, could not free himself from his father's anger. He called him an unconscious, and just intrusive with a lot of other things that in his life he would have expected. Nor had his mother's hysterical cries helped.

But he knew he deserved it. He had put Ran's life in danger by meddling in an investigation that had nothing to do with him. I had finally learned the lesson.

He had to tell his Yusaku what had happened. He no longer had any doubt, Subaru had been behind them all the time. Apparently Haibara still distrusted him.

I would have to ask Akai's phone to thank him. Thanks to him they had been saved ...

But I would not miss the opportunity to thank him as soon as I saw him again, because thanks to his help Ran was safe.

\- Son, for the next time you come, I want you to finish your shooting practice, okay? You were going to shoot Ran. Or am I wrong? You still lack aim, you're still inexperienced, you know.

His father had finally calmed down and handed him his coat and a cup of coffee while they were still in the hall, waiting for them to see Ran. Yukiko had passed herself off as Ran's mother and only she was the one authorized to accompany her.

He thanked the drink and bowed his head.

\- Yes ... I ... He was sure he would take her with her dad. And I could not allow that. I just thought that if it got Ran hurt, it would be a burden and it would free her.

\- I know you thought that but you had to keep in mind that not all criminals react in the same way, son. Remember that.

\- Yes, I know, dad. Sorry.

Yusaku finally gave in to the vision of his broken son and sat down beside him to put an arm over his shoulder.

\- You will have more experience, this will serve as a lesson. Anyway, do not tell your mother but I think you've reacted very well son. I'm very proud of you.

Shinichi turned to his father looking at him in amazement and found him staring at him with shining eyes.

\- Who would say it? That's quite an achievement, dad. Excitement is not achieved every day.

The aforementioned suddenly blushed and tried to pull away but Shinichi stopped him by the arm.

\- Thanks anyway, dad. I do not know what I would have done if he had not been with me. I really was scared.

His father could no longer hold on and finally embraced him as he had been holding out all day.

\- Go, go. But look what we were missing ... We also want a hug, what if Ran? - both turned to see their mother and Ran hand in hand watching them.

His girlfriend, already stripped of the hospital gown, was wearing a simple white dress and delicate sandals. Surely his mother had taken care of that.

But the most interesting thing was his smile.

That was the best reward for him. She was still a little pale but they had already cleaned the blood from her face and put a gauze over her wound.

\- Ran ... How is that ...?

\- Oh, but inattentive that you are with your beloved girlfriend, son ... - his mother reproached him although Shinichi could notice how both women exchanged an accomplice look and he raised his eyebrows expectantly -. Come on Shin-chan, it's not that bad either. She already woke up a while ago and the doctor has decided to discharge her, so here we are.

Shinichi stood up and took Ran's hands in both of his.

\- You're really fine, my love? How you feel?

Ran could feel the worry and weariness on his boyfriend's face. He sighed and caressed her cheek.

He could not help but lean toward the caress. God, he had needed her so much.

-Look who is the fool here. Do you think so weak? She smiled again and her forehead with his. You look terrible Mr. Detective. Now let me take care of you for a while, it's a promise.

Shinichi collapsed for the third time that day and instead of scolding her for being kidding again, he just hugged her.

\- I do not need you to take care of me. Just promise me that you will never expose yourself to such a danger again, is that clear? Never more…

He squeezed her hard in his arms to make sure it was her, that she was safe and well at his side.

...

On the way to the Kudo mansion, Shinichi's parents surprised the teenagers by telling them that all their purchases of the day had been found by a policeman in Elisabeth's office and that they were already in the house.

They on the other hand, looked at each other surprised.

They had completely forgotten about their purchases. And to think that they had planned a quiet day ...

Both assumed that his life would always be with those shocks.

... ..

Ran was resigned, they would not let him or move a millimeter if this continued like this. He understood that he should not make an effort, but he did not think it was that much either.

Shinichi watched her every moment and did not let him help her mother in the kitchen.

So I was in a bad mood during dinner.

And when they went to their rooms and Shinichi pretended to go to his room with the intention of resting but she stopped him with one arm.

\- Ahh I got fed up with all this, Shinichi. If you dare leave me alone tonight, I swear I'll kill you.

He stared at her for a fixed second, noting the anxiety in his eyes.

\- But Ran me ... You must rest.

\- No, I already did it for the rest of the day. I know you've been holding Shinichi. I need you to tell me what the hell you're thinking, and noticed that you were tense all night.

\- That's not true ... I just - was interrupted when Ran's lips landed on hers, surprising him

\- Stop making silly excuses. I do not want you to leave me behind again Shinichi, just talk to me, let me say, okay? - I put his forehead next to his and I look at him. - I love you, and I do not want you to ever leave me. Always trust me, please.

\- Ran me ... I'm sorry that ...

\- Come with me ... - Ran grabbed him by the hand and directed him to his room.

To his surprise he cornered him, took him by the hand directly to the bed and pushed him to sit down while she placed herself between his legs.

\- Shinichi ... I know it's not the time, but I want us to continue with this tomorrow. What do you say? I want us to forget what happened in the afternoon. I really want us to forget it ...

He for his part remained with his mouth open, totally surprised watching her as redder than ever before began to play with the straps of her fine dress.

A dress that had been torturing Shinichi for the rest of the day because he could guess every curve of Ran's body.

\- Ran, I do not think ...

Before he could stop her and she lost what little courage she had left, Ran suddenly undressed in front of him.

She was wearing only her pale pink lace underwear, probably another gift from Yukiko.

Shinichi, even though he knew he had to resist, kept thinking about how beautiful she looked, blushing and expectant. He knew how much it meant what he was doing, the value he should have had.

It was as if it were the best gift in the world ...

Just a moment…

Ran leaned over him, and without thinking too much she slipped her bra off her front hooks.

\- Did not you like Shinichi? - Feeling a complete stalker and idiot at the lack of response, I lie on the bed and settled on him leaning on his arms -. Please make me forget about today

He stayed a few more seconds watching her admiring her until he realized that she was beginning to spread soft kisses on his neck. That made him react.

\- Wait Ran, wait - Shinichi as he could pulled a few inches away from the naked body of Ran - I promise that if you wait a few more moments I'll make up for it. - He looked at his pocket watch more anxious than ever.

Only a few minutes were missing.

In that time he dedicated himself to admire Ran during the few seconds that remained.

He laughed lightly at his face of confusion, shame, or perhaps frustration?

When she wanted to go further, he held her back and stroked her cheeks with both hands.

\- The truth my love, that you are a total box of surprises. You took me totally off guard - despite being totally laid with her on top he managed to draw her face to kiss her gently -. Now I want you to dress - before she left him he whispered in her ear -. We will not make love tonight darling because you are hurt, but I promise that what I have to give you will be worth it. But believe me when I tell you that I want you more than anyone, my love - both looked at each other in the eyes, more ashamed than ever, blushing, not wanting to look away from the other.

\- Shinichi ... I do not understand what ...

He smiled at her face and pulled her away slightly before taking the dress that had ended on the floor and threw it away.

\- Let's get dressed now, my sweet seductress. Otherwise, I will not give you your gift.

\- My gift of what? What are you talking about? Shinichi! - She dressed quickly and watched him go towards the bedside tables - Shinichi I want you to explain to me what is happening ...

\- You know - he had turned around to turn his back while looking for something in the drawers -. I never thought that this moment would come and I really thought that the situation would be a bit more romantic but that does not matter anymore.

Ran was starting to get increasingly impatient until he finally turned around.

And he had a small box in his hands. He could not help but open his mouth in a silent scream, when he watched him kneel at his feet.

He seemed very nervous and a strong blush still stained his cheeks.

\- Ran Mouri, my love, you are my life. You have always been part of my life and I wish it to remain that way forever - before his astonished gaze he opened the box that contained a small solitaire of pink diamonds -. I did not know what to give you for your birthday, really. I wanted it to be something special, so it occurred to me that I could give myself to you forever. And he would be the happiest person in the world to do it. Ran, would you do me the honor of being my wife?

Ran did not understand, she felt like a complete idiot.

Shinichi had much more honorable intentions than her, rays. Did he just propose to her?

She blushed to the max and her legs turned to jelly as she fell at Shinichi's feet, holding his face with his hands. I could not see him in the face at those moments

God, what a shame ... I just wanted to disappear

-Ran ... Are you okay? I'm sorry if it's not what you expected, I may have been a little hasty but ... "He tried to pull her hair back from her face but she backed away, cowering against the wall." Ran, what's wrong with my love?

Seeing that it was useless to try to get close, he just sat and waited for her to react. Still the ring shone inside its box

-I cannot believe it. You had all this planned? -Ran finally raised his eyes to him timidly, which hypnotized Shinichi for a few seconds -. Damn, I must look like a fool.

At last Shinichi understood the reason why he acted like that and also felt guilty.

-Ran ... I'm sorry it was so surprising but ... "When tears ran down his eyes he could not help but move closer and stroked her cheek with tenderness." Sweet, I did not expect your sensual proposal, I admit it. But you do not have to be like that. This does not mean that I do not want ...

She lifted her face to him, embarrassed.

-But…. What I just did a while ago ... I must have looked like anybody and you only had honorable feelings towards me and me ...

Before the nonsense she said, Shinichi could not help but laugh and pulled her to himself.

-Rays, yes you can with me, princess. My feelings were not honorable at all. Of course I wish you like never another woman.

-But you said you did not want to make love with me, you rejected me and it's not the first time. She lifted her head from his shoulder as she looked at him

They were so close that their eyes reflected on each other. Shinichi could almost feel the heat sticking out of his flushed cheeks.

-I was not saying no ... You're hurt, and I just thought that before doing so we could have moved on to the next phase, and it was supposed to be a happy moment but you can see that it was not like that.

-No ... of course, if I'm happy because of what you just told me but ...

Shinichi smiled again when she rested her head against his shoulder.

\- So that's a yes, does that mean you agree to marry me? She whispered in his ear, which made her shudder

She took a few seconds to react.

\- This must be very fun, is not it Shinichi? she raised her face again and dared to look at him but this time she smiled at him. "I'll only do it on one condition."

\- With a condition? -That was totally caught off guard, he could not imagine what Ran could demand -If it's about accompanying me when we attack the men in black you know it does not depend on me and ... -he was very relieved to see her deny and could not help shuddering when she returned his touch, running the hair from his eyes. - So that's what you want? If it's to become my wife, I'll do anything but please accept

Her smile broadened if possible.

-I just need you to promise me that you will always love me, that's enough for me

Shinichi could not help but laugh.

\- With what only? I was already starting to get scared, silly. "Before she could say anything else, he took the ostro in her hands and kissed it soundly." You do not even have to ask, did not I show you all these days? You are and always will be the woman I love the most, Ran, I don't know you remember the day we first met you wrote my name on the sakura badge, you just didn't just wrote on the badge but wrote your name on my heart for forever. "he began to give her soft kisses on her forehead, her nose and cheeks." And I'll show you the rest of my life if you'll let me ... "

Ran had been absorbed by so many caresses and finally reacted to throw her arms around his neck.

-You are the fool. Did you think I would reject you? Of course I want to marry you Shinichi Kudo! -I jumped one second to look him in the eye again -I've waited for this moment for a while ...

Shinichi finally sighed in relief and his arm as strong as I can. A single tear came out of her eyes and she shuddered to feel the moisture on his face

He was happy, beyond what he could have imagined.

\- Happy birthday Ran - Shinichi finally put the ring on his ring finger -. I love you and I want to spend the rest of our lives with you.

She lifted her face and took it between her soft hands.

-Thanks Shinichi. Do not have the slightest doubt that that will happen because it is what I desire most too. "She kissed him. I will never forget this birthday, thank you love.

Shinichi smirked at him.

\- Of course I will not allow you to forget this day - I kiss her finger with the ring -. But keep in mind that it just starts.

\- What? Do you mean that there is still more? - Ran sat up sharply to look at him -. There cannot be anything better than this, Shinichi, what are you hiding from me? Curiosity ignited in her when Shinichi started to snicker.

-You will see it princess, for now let's rest tomorrow will be a long day ...

Ran made a grimace of disgust when he held out his hand to lift her up.

-I do not like surprises and I do not plan to wait until tomorrow ...

-Ahh you do not like my surprises ... You did not seem at all upset with my new proposal.

Ran blushed as they both settled into the bed. They would have time for more things, she thought tired, they had a whole life ahead now, together.

"Shut up, do not make fun of me, do not remind me how shameful that was." She pulled him closer and when she leaned back against the pillows she settled on his chest, sighing happily. I love you, my romantic detective

She smiled as she felt him laugh again. I had not seen him so smiling for a long time.

"I love you too, and I'll never let you get away from me." He kissed her gently on the head as he finished covering them with the sheets.

Tomorrow I would have no escape, Shinichi smiled as the dream was coming to an end, I was not going to make any more excuses, I would end up with Ran.

Ran woke up so comfortable that she did not want to move even a millimeter.

Everything that had happened the day before seemed like a dream, had it been?

He did not want to open his eyes and feel that everything had been the product of his imagination. In the end he felt so hot and sunlight bothered his eyes that he had no choice but to open them.

Of course, the previous night had not been a dream.

He could not help but smile funny at the position they were in. Apparently they had slept hugging and so tight that the heat of both had been noticed because the blankets had disappeared

He was with his head on Shinichi's chest and the rest of his body tangled with his that was lying on his back and one arm around his shoulders while the other was under his pillow. The legs of both looked like a knot that would never be untied.

In spite of everything, she had never been so comfortable.

Shinichi looked so calm sleeping. She could not help it and stroked his face gently with the tips of her fingers.

She laughed lightly at the sight of him grimacing, but apparently she did not want to get up. Unable to avoid it, she leaned over to kiss him softly on the lips but decided she would not wake him up, Shinichi never slept enough.

Ran straightened trying not to wake him up and looked at the time on the clock that was on his bedside table.

Eleven o'clock the morning!

How was it that they had slept so much without Yukiko waking them up?

Although perhaps, after everything that had happened the previous day, she had decided to let them rest.

She turned to see Shinichi shuffling as if looking for his warmth.

And finally he turned and looked at her for a few seconds, surprised but then smiled.

His smile on his face still numb, touched Ran.

-With finally wake up, sleepyhead. Good Morning. She leaned over and kissed him again, which he did not take long to answer.

\- Good morning to you too, my beautiful bride. And happy birthday. "He put his arms around her neck to draw her closer to him." How did you sleep? "

She finally leaned on him and rested her arms on either side of his head. The discomfort and embarrassment she had felt before to feel so close already seemed ridiculous.

-Better than ever, although you know? I thought everything last night had been a dream but then I saw this and ... "She could not help but smile and blush like a fool when she turned to see her ring that shone as never on her ring finger.

-I'm glad you have such wonderful dreams and that they are with me-Shinichi laughed happily when he saw her bright eyes-. I love you.

She looked back at him and their eyes merged.

-I know, and I love you too and never forget it -he kissed him wanting that moment never to end.

He reciprocated but this time he wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled her to face her back this time.

-I do not think I'll never forget it. You are always in my mind.

\- That's the only thing I want.

The kiss that had started softly was becoming dangerous. Shinichi could not help but taste with his tongue the soft lips of her and began to put it inside his mouth as a sweet caress.

She did not take long to do the same.

\- Mmm I think there's no better way to wake up than this -he murmured against her lips smiling, and as if his hands moved by themselves began to caress his waist, tempting her with his hands.

-Well, I think it could be better, if you wanted –since ending herself, she caught his hands with his and encouraged him to lift her nightgown around her waist but as he expected it he stopped her.

\- Are your hormones in full attack plan? Shinichi laughed at his face of frustration when he finally separated me from him, leaving the two of them sitting on the bed facing each other.

\- You know what I want. We both want this. Why deny it? You owe it to me as a birthday present - he could not help it and made one of his pouts, trying to convince him

Shinichi gave another laugh and stroked his cheek gently, but Ran pulled him out in a huff.

\- With what do you want more? Are not you happy with having the most famous detective in history by your side forever?

\- You always so arrogant - could not help it and grabbed a pillow to hit him with that -. And I was serious ... You never take the issue seriously.

He laughed, trying to stop his blows.

\- Of course I take it seriously, things are not as you think. I do not reject you because I do not want to be with you, Ran. "He took her by the arms and looked at her seriously.

She tried not to get distracted and did not take her eyes from his.

\- Then why do you do it?

Shinichi smiled at him tenderly ..

-. You cannot doubt that I really want you, but I really want it to be something special for us.

\- But what's more special than all this? -Ran pointed to the ring and the room. All this is a dream. I do not know what you want to get to. And stop laughing!

-I'm sorry but the truth is that making love with the woman of life in my parents' house is not very tempting, especially in the middle of the day when my mother can interrupt us -he again caressed her cheek fondly-. I promise you that I will compensate you tonight, okay? It will be a wonderful night for both of you.

\- You promise?

"Silly, yes, of course, and now we better get up and take a shower before my parents show up." Shinichi got up and held out a hand for her to do the same.

Apparently he wanted to torture her, Ran thought, but he could not deny that it would be uncomfortable if his mother suddenly came in and found them in a shameful situation.

He nodded and went to get his suitcase and find something suitable to wear on that special day, because he did not doubt that Shinichi would fulfill his promise.

Tonight would be special for both.

...

Shinichi had finally gone to another room to bathe to leave a few minutes of privacy.

Finally she left the room and found him waiting for her in the hallway.

She looked at him for a few seconds, apparently with the choice of that simple pale pink dress (Sonoko Gift of course) had managed to muzzle him.

He always looked elegant with just a pair of jeans and a white shirt and a blue jacket.

He held out his hand and immediately took hers in his and delicately kissed the ring of his left hand.

\- Now I can say that you're finally mine.

Ran blushed but suddenly he was curious.

\- Did you have doubts about my answer? He grinned at her. And that's how you call yourself the best detective?

I'm seriously considering thinking that Heiji may be the best ...

\- What do you say? Heiji? He gave a laugh that surprised Ran. If you think I'm slow on these issues of love, I can assure you that Heiji wins me by far. Did not you hear about what happened in Osaka? Apparently inadvertently Kazuha was confessed to Hattori's fool

That took her by surprise,

\- What? How was that? Kazuha has not told me anything. In fact he has not written to me today which is rare in her. Do not tell me Heiji rejected it. No, that is impossible.

For his relief Shinichi denied but he was serious.

\- Hattori did not manage to tell me in great detail but apparently when Kazuha was confessed it was in the middle of one of his silly arguments and she fled before she could react. The poor man does not know what to do and apparently Kazuha locked himself in his house and does not want to know anything about seeing him.

\- That fool ... I imagine how she must be feeling poor Kazuha. Later I'll write to see if he could fix things with your friend's fool.

They both went to the ground floor holding hands. In fact, she was nervous. Despite knowing them as a child I did not know what Shinichi's parents could say when they found out about their commitment.

Shinichi on the other hand was thinking that he would have to endure the screams of emotion from his mother for a few hours and that he would not leave them alone for a long time ... but he had other plans. That day nothing of departures with his parents, he would only spend that special day with Ran.

Ran could not hide their blush when they entered the kitchen of the Kudo.

She squeezed Shinichi's hand nervously and looked at him but to his surprise, he smiled at her and winked at her.

He sighed and reached out to open the door, from inside it was a delicious smell of coffee and something delicious that she could not distinguish but that tempted her.

He did not expect what came next. It was as if a big explosion had taken place

\- Happy Birthday!

I could not believe it!

Not only were Shinichi's parents pointing at her with firecrackers and throwing colored papers over him and Shinichi but also his best friends were present.

Yes, Sonoko and Sera were there along with Makoto. I could not believe how they got there?

He looked at Shinichi with a questioning look but he just smiled at her even more and shrugged.

\- You were not going to believe that on such a special day for you could ignore Sonoko, is not it? She called me and insisted so ...

\- Friend! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! Happy Birthday! As expected, Sonoko could not take it anymore and hugged Ran so hard that he almost suffocated her, but he was still quick to respond.

Fine tears came from his eyes.

\- Sonoko! I missed you too! This time you did manage to surprise me!

-Of course. I could not be on your eighteenth birthday, what kind of friend would it be? - Sonoko could not avoid that tears also fell from her eyes, so she rubbed her eyes furiously. -I hope I did not disturb your honeymoon ... -I looked significantly at Shinichi who was behind Ran.

Both could not help but blush

\- Come on, come on, and Sonoko. Do not make the boys nervous anymore-fortunately at that moment Sera appeared, pushing the brunette slightly so that she could approach Ran smiling widely. I guess you did not expect me but when they told me they were coming to visit you, I could not help but write down Happy birthday Ran! He handed her a tiny little package wrapped in pink. Maybe it's silly but when I saw it ...

He could not continue as Ran rushed to hug her as he had done with Sonoko.

\- Sera-chan! I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being with me on such an important day, and you should not have bothered to bring me something

\- No! -Sonoko interrupted this time by pushing Sera away, she would not let him win all the attention of her best friend-. You turn eighteen, it's not any Ran celebration. See all the gifts we get for you. Yesterday when we arrived with Makoto we could not decide what to bring you so we decided on several things ... "She pointed to a small pile of gifts that was next to a huge exquisitely decorated cake (that's where the sweet smell that had tempted her came from) so much).

-Although I guess nothing compares to what Shinichi has given you, is not it? Makoto had decided to go ahead and present his greetings to Ran. Happy birthday, Ran!

"Thanks, Makoto, I'm glad you're here." Ran walked over and gave her a brief hug and a kiss on the cheek while she wiped her face again with tears. Thanks guys, really for ...

\- AHHHHH!

Everyone jumped when they heard Sonoko scream at the time she pointed at Ran as if a ghost had suddenly appeared.

\- Sonoko! He reproached Sera. Can you know why you scream? What is it that ...? Oh ...

Shinichi and Ran did not understand what was going on and looked at each other confused until Yukiko finally decided to make an appearance.

\- Ahhh! Finally, my Shin-chan decided! - to the pushes he went forward to Ran and grabbed her hands contemplating her engagement ring, which she had temporarily forgotten. At last you will be part of the Ran-chan family! At last I'm going to have my daughter! Oh, I'm happy for you!

Shinichi and Ran blushed again. Apparently they had not been able to keep the secret to others.

Yukiko hugged Ran tightly, apparently not wanting to let go. Until Shinichi had to intervene.

\- Ya ... Mom ..., Leave her alone, you'll hurt her.

-Oh yes yes. I'm sorry, it's that you already know how I am. Oh, I think this moment is the happiest of my life! He grabbed his face with both hands, shaking his head. I cannot wait for Eri to know too. In the end our children will be able to be together forever!

\- Yukiko, please. Do not embarrass them. - Yusaku approached and rested his arms on his wife shaking his head. I'm sorry Ran-chan. You know how much I expected this moment so ... "At the end he smiled at the girl with a smile that showed great affection. However, I cannot help but say that I'm glad you accepted my son. "He reached over and hugged his future daughter-in-law, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. And by the way Happy birthday! These are our gifts. "He pointed to another small table next to the cake and where there was another small pile of gifts. Yukiko could not contain herself either, so I suppose she exaggerated a little as usual ... "He shrugged smiling as he had done his son a few moments before.

\- Silly stuff. Nothing is amiss when it comes to my daughter. "Ran was deeply moved by Yukiko's words.

More tears were about to come out of her eyes and she was about to thank them for all they had done for her when Sonoko finally seemed to recover her speech.

\- So it is true? Sonoko looked seriously at Shinichi and then at Ran. Is it true that this silly detective has already proposed Ran? How come I did not hear about this? I'm supposed to be your best friend ... "She made a pout that made him look like she would cry at any moment. That foolish maniac detective disappears for millions of years and suddenly you compromise. How come I did not hear about this?

\- Sonoko! Of course you are my best friend. It's not what you think, I did not want to hide anything from you, it happened so fast that ... "She blushed and looked for Shinichi for help.

He smiled at her and suppressed a smile

\- Sonoko ... - he looked at her pretending annoyance. She did not manage to tell you anything because everything happened last night so are not you supposed to be congratulating us?

\- What? Last night? God, that's a romantic thing. "Sera reached out to the couple and took Ran's hand to see his ring more closely. Its beautiful! How I wish I had your luck Ran! Congratulations! - As they were his rough manners hugged the two by the neck. I'm so happy for you!

\- Hey, hey, give me room. - Sonoko had finally come around, smiling broadly at her best friend. I do not care when it was all but tell me every detail. Do not think I'm going to let you pass anything high, Mrs. Kudo. -Wink an eye Ran to see her blushing-. I guess my duty is to congratulate you but do not forget that I was the one who always predicted that they would end up together. Congratulations!

As Sera did, she pounced on the couple hugging them. In the end he pulled away from Shinichi and threatened him with a finger.

\- And you, you better not go back to disappearing around again. You do not know what he suffered during your absence, so do not think I'll forgive you so easily, Kudo. I will not let you hurt Ran again.

-Sonoko ... -Ran was going to intervene when Shinichi interrupted her.

\- I know how much Ran suffered and believe me I'll never forgive myself for that. But I promise to spend the rest of my life showing her how much I love her and how important she is to me.

All the young people blushed when they heard Shinichi talking like that. They had never seen him so serious and less than declaring his feelings openly towards Ran.

\- Go Go. Let's not ruin the rest of Ran-chan's birthday party. Everyone sit down at the table, come on! -Yukiko thank heaven had decided to interrupt the awkward silence.

Sonoko who had been more surprised than the rest by the words of his friend sighed.

\- I guess I have no choice but to accept it. Besides, who am I to deny myself? I will not be the one to stand you, foolish detective. "Shinichi stuck out his tongue and turned to turn his back on them. Yukiko-san, how can I help you?

\- Sonoko!

\- Ya, leave it. It will loosen up. Let me congratulate you too. Makoto took a step forward, and to Ran's surprise approached Shinichi by holding out his hand. I guess it's late afternoon but I have to introduce myself ...

-Oh you are Makoto Kyogoku. You're a great karate player like Ran, are not you? - Shinichi waved back

Makoto looked at him for a few seconds, but in the end he laughed lightly,

\- I guess I should not be surprised, being like you're a great detective. But have we seen each other before?

Shinichi remained static for a few moments. How did he explain that they had met when he was in Conan's form?

\- Ehh ... No, what happens is that - suppressed a scream of pain when he felt that Ran gave him a sudden stomp as a warning before she turned and headed towards the table followed by Sera. It's that Ran has already told me about you the times we chat on the phone. You know what is involved in the subject of karate like you and ...

Hell, he had saved himself for a little bit!

While Shinichi and Makoto were still talking about what to do, Ran resignedly sat down at the table.

Yukiko, Sera and Sonoko had been adamant that she did not make any move.

She sighed feeling frustrated. I was not used to being treated so much. Not even on their birthdays-

\- I guess you have to resign yourself -Yusaku, sitting next to him pulled the newspaper and looked at it amused-. Today is your small day, take advantage of letting yourself be pampered. After all, not every day you turn eighteen and you become of age. Also when Yukiko gets something in her head you cannot make her change her mind

Ran saw the look of tenderness that the famous writer dedicated to his wife. It was weird to see him like that, he had always seen him as someone very serious.

\- Yes. I guess Yukiko is like that ...

...

That was the best birthday Ran had ever had.

Her parents had called her from the cruise they were traveling on. He had been happy to hear them so happy. It had been a long time since I felt them so animated. In the end her father could not help but make her cry when she reminded him that her little daughter had finally grown older.

The famous detective Kogoro Mouri was very sensitive when it came to his daughter.

His mother, on the other hand, was more complete and reminded him of almost all the rights he acquired now when he was of age. As you would expect from a lawyer like her.

She had decided she would not tell them about his story with Shinichi. She could not give herself away now, she was supposed to be staying at Sonoko's house.

Luckily his parents had helped cover it.

Sonoko ...

She did not know Conan's story, but she had talked to her every day telling her how her relationship with Shinichi had evolved. The first few days had become unbearable but she could not have hidden anything so important for her from her best friend.

I had also never thought that the people I most wanted were to make such a trip for her.

Sonoko had made an excuse to his family that Makoto was in a karate championship in England and that he should go to cheer him up. Fortunately, they gave her permission but with the condition that she be accompanied by someone they trust. She had finally called Sera to accompany her and in that way her parents did not object.

Sera had not had any problems although Ran was curious as to how she had managed to get her out of the country as well. But he did not complain, he was glad to have the girl by his side. She always found a way to move from stress to joy in a second.

When Sonoko got too upset by their commitment, Sera always managed to find a joke of everything, which made the moment more enjoyable.

However, he could not help but be surprised to notice the familiarity with which Shinichi and she were treated. At first he came to suspect that Sera knew the truth about Conan. The hypothesis was soon invalidated when Shinichi told the others that he had met the girl about ten years ago on the beach, where they had gone together. The three.

It took Ran a few minutes to remember, but now he remembered a little girl with a tender smile that all he had wanted was the approval of his older brother. She wondered what had happened to him and wanted to ask her but she just changed the subject.

At some point he would be asking about his family. It had always been something that had intrigued him, although he knew it was a subject that Sera did not like too much.

They passed a cheerful breakfast and birthday lunch and Ran suspected that he had gained a few kilos in just a few hours.

Despite everything there was something that kept her distracted from everything. Shinichi's words of that morning came to mind. Although it looked like it had been centuries ago

Shinichi had promised that he would make her that night, but he did not understand in what way. I did not expect to be taken away from her as well as the guests and to take her as a true caveman to the room but still ...

If he had supposedly had everything planned, he should have something in mind already.

He was trying to decipher what Shinichi might have thought for that night when he could not help but yawn. Repeatedly.

Shinichi did not take long to notice.

\- You're good? You get tired, maybe you should go to rest a _r_ ate.

\- What? I cannot do this. We have guests here, remember? I look at his friends who were chatting happily with Shinichi's parents.

Apparently Makoto had got along quite well with Yusaku, they had never suspected that he was a great admirer of his.

\- Do not worry. In a while it is the party of Makoto in the championship and Sonoko will apologize a thousand times with you but it will accompany it and Sera ... Let's say that I had a few words with her and she understood that she should accompany her. But do not worry, tomorrow if you want we can go find them at your hotel and go out there.

\- What? All that you already had planned? - He turned to see him and to his surprise he blushed

-Of course. Although you do not know what it cost me to convince Sonoko not to reply with my plan. I was not going to tell you what I really have in mind- to Ran's surprise, Shinichi blushed. Also, what did you want me to do? Too much to let them take over your attention for part of the day. But the rest of the time I want you to be mine. Do not you remember the promise this morning? I look away.

That he had not forgotten, like her. I still thought to make it his.

Ran blushed, which at this point seemed ridiculous, came over and planted a kiss on the cheek.

\- You know? Sometimes I think you read me the passions.

He smiled at her in response, more blushed than before.

Eri called out Ran. Ran moved to a corner of the hall with her mother. "what do you want on your birthday dear" asked Eri. Without any hesitation Ran said " I only want that our family should live together like others." .Thats good said Eri. What do you mean asked Ran.

"We decided we will live together from now" with blush said Eri. "what "shouted Ran. "Is it true mom , what I have heard" said Ran. Yes nodded Eri. "This is like a dream coming true" with happiness said Ran.

Ran asked her mother "how this miracle has happened". This is turning to be the best birthday she had. But before Ran could utter any words Eri stopped her.

"I am disappointed with you Ran" said Eri. "but why mom" asked Ran. "First You lied to us that you are going to spend two weeks in Sonoko's house" said Eri.

Ran got astonished how her parents found out and asked her mother how they know. Eri said I will tell you everything but first let her finish.

"secondly, when you were depressed you should talk with me but you didn't. Instead you showed me fake smile every time we meet .Seriously Ran this type of behavior I have not expected from you. Am I not this much important to you in your life now that you cannot tell your sorrow to me" said Eri.

Ran had tears in her eyes after hearing her mother's word. Eri told Ran not to cry on her birthday but told her to give answer.

Ran apologized her mother and said "I am sorry. I love you mom so much but I won't want to get worried about her". Eri know her daughter would give this type of response so she said apology accepted but next time you would share your problems with her.

Ran nodded ant then said "mom how you change your mind and how you know I was not with Sonoko".

Eri said it was the culprit who told her .Ran said "culprit". Eri nodded yes and said the culprit who made her daughter suffered with depression and sorrow. Ran now understand that her mother was referring to shinichi.

"Shinichi" said Ran. Yes nodded her mother. It was him who had them change their mind. He told us that this gift from on this occasion she would never able to forget. It was again his doing her mother said. Despite being of his age her mother surprised how mature his views were and made her realize that how important was her daughter than their silly fight.

She told Ran that his views have shocked her and because of them she change her mind not to fight with Kogoro and during her trip they sort out everything.

Eri also said "he told her that she should try cooking food under the best chef they had at her home so ojisan will have no reason to fight her." So I thought I should try take his advice. "best chef, who" Ran asked.

Eri said "He referred to you, baka but I wonder I haven't told this secret leaving him for food to anyone except You and Conan. Is Conan related to shinichi…..before she complete her sentence Ran stopped her and apologize , ran from her towards Shinichi thinking it was a close call.

Ran ran towards Shinichi and hugged him from back. He turned around saw her. She had tears in her eyes. He get frustrated what he have done now that she is crying and asked her. She replied" baka why are worried you have not done anything wrong."

But what you have done that was important for me she replied and tears are of happiness. He was doubting himself before he could say anything she again said" my parents , you brought them together". He replied really. Yes she nodded and said Thank you for making this day wonderful & memorable for her…

Before she completed her sentence she saw Shinichi was tensed up and he had one hand on his chest and was about to run. She hold his another hand.

"Ran leave me" shinichi said.

"No I would not ,what's happening to you, let's go to our room " Ran said.

"No we can't , I am going to return to Conan and if I come out as Conan they all will definitely know about me and we can't explain that" shinichi said

"Then let's go out and leave explanation to me" Ran said.

"Then you stay here and I go out and then return" shinichi said.

"No I will not leave you, let's go together" Ran said.

"No means no ,let's hurry" Ran said.

They both went out and ran towards garden and hide behind the bushes.

"No one had notice" she said. Then she felt heat that was coming from his body. She was scared but she did not left his hand . "Shinichi we should call a doctor" Ran said.

"Ran you should not be here, please go" he said.

"I want to be at your side when it happens," he was already opening his mouth to counterattack, but this time she was faster. "No, please, let me finish. Just as you need to come back, I need to see you come back. I want to be there for you, hold your hand, run for help if you need it. I know this transformation could be the hardest, and you will not go through it alone."

"But Ran… Even if it's not the worst, it'll be painful, and you don't need to see that. I promised you that, someday, I would definitely come back, even if I was dead, and that's why I wanted you to wait for me. Well, I'm not dead, and I'm fulfilling my promise now. All the pain in the world is worth it," he smiled sweetly, his eyes full of devotion and love, in the same way that he had done sometimes before Conan had stumbled in their lives, when she hadn't been looking. With those words, even if they were true, he had fully intended to distract her, but the look that Ran was giving him told him he hadn't succeeded at all. "Ran, please, you can't ask this of me," he pleaded.

"Shinichi, I'm sorry to say this, but… I need to be there with you, or else I'm going to be other side, screaming with every scream you let out. We're in this together," Ran said, cradling his face to look at him directly in the eyes. After a moment, she looked away, hesitating. "And also I know you're Shinichi, but I need to really see it to wrap my mind about it."

"But Ran, that doesn't make any sense!"

"You turning into a child doesn't make sense either, Shinichi!" she said, desperation rising her voice.

"But! Please, Ran, it can be really painful to experience, and even more to see," he pleaded, desperate now, because he felt his determination crumbling upon gazing at her eyes.

"I know, but all the more reason… I don't like to see you suffer, but… I'm your fiancé now, aren't I? You said today. What would it make me if I couldn't be at your side at your lowest –shortest?" asked Ran, knowing that she was very close to winning this argument. He laughed at her correction, in spite of himself.

"Agh, okay," he accepted finally. "Man, I don't know what I'm going to do with you and your stubbornness someday… I'll let you be at my side, but you have to promise something too: not to cry."

"Deal!" and her smile was so bright that he couldn't help but smile back. she threw her arms around him, not really remembering that he usually felt awkward during those weak moments, but she didn't care. She rejoiced when she felt his arms going around her, and his nose inhaling the scent of her hair. It was comfortable, safe. Even if he thought that she had suffered enough and didn't want to add anything more to that pile, he realized that he couldn't have said no to anything she asked. If he really thought about it, he had been always at her command, had always been wrapped around her fingers, and she knew it fully well and sometimes even saw fit to use that power to get her way, but he wouldn't have her any other way. That was his Ran: strong, stubborn, gentle and sensitive.

Ran, what you are about to see is what I have kept hidden during these years and I apologize in advance, but please do not approach my body despite the cries I give.

-Why do you say that, Shinichi? -I did not know how to act in this situation.

Ran surrounded him with her arms, he was surprised at first of his act but then it corresponded to him. It was she who took the initiative, slowly approaching her lips until she finished touching her partner's for a brief moment. He separated and gave him a smile that he returned.

But for him that was not enough, he applied more strength to his grip and made them closer. Now he was the one who initiated the affective demonstration.

The kiss that had begun showed desire, passion, need; leaving in evidence all the feelings that he had towards her and that distance or rather the hazards of fate had prevented him from demonstrating.

He began to feel rise in pain in his chest, the one that marked the deadline; It felt like the Cinderella had to run before the charm was over, but she ignored the warnings and continued with that kiss, with the one she had dreamed so many times.

His childhood friend began to feel that the body he was hugging was warm, I try to stop hugging him but he reaffirmed his grip making him stronger and she did nothing but imitate him, felt the need to continue with that affection because if he stopped now such I would not feel it again until in the distant future.

Suddenly he felt that those big, strong arms that surrounded him were gone. But it was not necessary to give the answer with words because what he saw was revealing what the detective was referring to, his body began to emanate smoke, from his mouth started screaming that Ran, in his worst nightmares, had not imagined but he tried to repress them with his clothes. I did not know if he was being a figment of his imagination or now his clothes were bigger. I tried to get closer but some small hands stopped him, those hands were hot.

The smoke dissipated, revealing what it concealed: the body of an infant who wore the clothes of an adult, those of Shinichi. She opened her eyes-which had been kept closed to maintain the charm of the kiss-and saw that the person she had in her arms was no longer his childhood friend and partner, now he was the child that has been under his care for months. I gently lower it so that its feet touched the floor. She saw him in pain and screaming. Her eyes filled with tear .

"I'm fine, Ran," he said, through ragged breaths and with a confident smile. At first she didn't know if that was a white lie or it was true. He noticed that she didn't believe him fully, and added "Just humor me. It's almost done."

"I know, you're doing great," she replied, knowing that it was going to be okay if he had the strength to joke around. Putting her hand on his forehead to move away his bangs, she removed some salty sweat drops and the very few tears that had escaped his eyes. She remained stoic, however, since she had promised Shinichi that she wouldn't cry.

At confident fifteen, he let out a horrible scream, of the kind that can freeze one's blood, and he became very still. She held him tighter to her chest, hoping to ease his pain. With the last jerk, he returned to glorious seventeen. He kept breathing, quietly, so Ran knew it was only a matter of time that he would open his eyes. And he did, after what seemed an eternity.

"Hi…" he said, smiling. He became aware of his position, with his head resting on her chest , and he became flustered, but a simple look from Ran told him that she was not going to let him away anytime soon.

"Welcome back, sunshine," and if his face wasn't blushing bad enough already, he was sure he could spontaneously combust right now after hearing her words. "How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted, but I've been worse. I'll be fine, given time." Conan replied, while a ghost of his most charming smile tugged at his lips.

He stared at her, deeply, since nothing but her and her gaze and her smile existed in his world at that moment. With only his eyes, he was making use of their connection to tell her that this chapter of their lives was over, that she needn't worry anymore. She understood, and almost drowned herself in the vibrant blue of his eyes, realizing she didn't want to be rescued. However, he noticed that her lips were trembling and that she wasn't as happy as she was letting on, that something was amiss, and his hand came up on his own accord to caress her cheek. He could read her like an open book, and so he smiled sincerely while saying:

"You can cry now if you want, Ran, I won't call you a cry-baby anymore."

Having his permission, not one second had passed that she was bawling like an idiot, not only because of the overwhelming last minutes that had transpired between them, but also because he remembered word for word what he said to her in one of the most precious moments they had ever shared. She couldn't help hugging the life out of him, her arms coming down to embrace his chest and her face resting on his neck, while she cried her eyes out. He was back, and that feeling overwhelmed her. Shinichi put his arms around her and started combing his fingers through her hair, in a response that had come naturally. He was glad that his body could provide the warmth she needed, and that he could be enjoying this kind of closeness for the very first time with not one regret holding him back. It was his turn, now, to recite quiet words of reassurance. She relaxed little by little, and somehow, her sad tears changed into happy tears, and prompted a teary laughter along the way, and these were wholeheartedly welcomed by Shinichi.

The charm ended? Said the girl with a sad look.

-Ran ... -he mentioned his name with that seven-year-old child's voice, that age that prevented him from being with his beloved.

-If I kiss you again, will you be again? -He questioned as he looked at him tenderly, he had crouched down to be at the same height as that child who wore the same clothes as the young man he was hugging before.

-Ran ... -It still did not know what to say, what had happened in the morning was just a bad calculation.

But without him imagining it, he began to kiss. He spread his kisses across the boy's face of his boyfriend: on the forehead, on the cheek and even a chaste one on the lips.

-Ran, that will not work. He pulled away from her with all the pain in his heart. What happened today was because I took an antidote that Haibara made for me before we met, which lasts less and less since my body is becoming immune to him.

-So, are not my kisses magical? The girl's eyes were bright, signaling that at any moment she was going to start crying.

-They are so magical that they make me feel in the clouds but my body, no matter how much I want, will never be the same, at least not, until the definitive cure is found. She wiped with her small hands the tears that threatened to come out of her beloved's eyes. We must go home Ran neechan, "he said in the childish tone he used to use. Besides it's strange that you kiss a child in the mouth and this one is wearing much bigger clothes.

He saw her crying and said" why are you crying, see it is over now and I'm fine". She hugged him tightly and starting apologizing.

He got surprised why she was apologizing him, what have she had done. He frustately separated her , looked in her eyes and asked why are you apologizing.

"I don't deserve you Ran." He whispered, and Ran's eyes watered at the pain in his voice. "I kept lying to you, always my actions kept making you cry. I just wanted to keep you safe-!" He looked at Ran imploringly.

He was stopped by Ran putting their foreheads together. "Shinichi. I can never be mad at you because you were worried for me." Her eyes opened, and Shinichi felt so free at the acceptance in her eyes. "I love you, Shinichi." His breath caught, and his cheeks felt a bit hot. She smiled, a tiny smile that seemed a bit lonely. "And I loved Conan too. He was my baby brother, and he protected me when 'Shinichi' couldn't."

We have grown, Shinichi. We separated, and that only strengthened my love for you but now seeing you, the pain you gone through made me realize that I don't deserve you Shinichi. You gone through same pain many times just for my stupidity. I cannot believe you how much you love me , you have gone through this much. How could someone Love anyone this much I still can't believe.

I'm just troublesome for you even though love me. Now I remember why you called me troublesome difficult case in London , speaking of London on that I forced you to grew up again when I was chasing this mean… and also forced you to confess. All this is my fault just because I don't have faith in you but you always have…

Before she could complete Conan stopped And replied "NO you are not responsible for all this , the one who should be blamed is me ,no one else. In London I was grateful to you that you forced me to confess or I couldn't manage to say everytime we meet ….."

Ran interrupted with smile and said " NO shinichi its neither your fault, it was just fate and we will accept. I have faith in you and your love But from now no more lies between us please. You would never leave my side and share everything with me if necessary then don't in detail but nothing should be hidden "

Conan nodded with smile.

"We should head back everyone would be worried sick about us and you also need to change" said Ran.

"Ran wait, there is something that I need tell you".

"what is it Shinichi".

" All this time, being Conan I had realized that there things that I lack but you have them . That shows you are the soul mate that is meant for me . Meaning all the decision I made in the past were right and First decision was also right to choose you as my only soul mate from the first time we met. Thank you for being in my life." Said Conan with blush.

" thank you Shinichi for being me in my life and your action also made me realized I was right to wait for you." Said Ran with tears filled in her eyes.

They started to walk then Ran suddenly smiling, drying her tears and said" you made my all dreams come true today Shinichi. You just made this day most beautiful and happiest moment of my life. Thank you"

"what dreams" asked Conan in childish tone.

"you brought my parents together, you spent the day with me and you also fatefully brought back my little Conan whom I was missing on my this special day but you are the best gift that I have got. I love you so much" replied Ran.

"I love you too and I would do anything to bring that heart full smile of yours."

" I 'm sorry " said Conan ."for what" asked Ran. "For breaking my today's promise. Now I 'm in no condition to fulfill it." "that's okay" replied Ran." Are you not upset" asked Conan." Its fate , how can be I upset although you tried your best to make this day memorable for me. That's enough for me and for that we would another opportunity someday but promise you would compensate it." Replied Ran. In reply Conan said " thank you and sure I will."

" If you feel so much guilty then I can do it with my Little Conan " said Ran.

"what are you saying , what you wanna be pedophile".

"don't get frustrated Shinichi. I was just kidding. Want a smile on your face. That's it" said Ran with loud laugh.

They went to a store nearby to buy clothes for Little Conan and then return to house. As they entered Everyone shocked to see Conan. Sonoko rushed to Ran and asked " you went out with your mystery geek husband and return with this brat , where your husband ran off".

Ran yelled and replied " stop calling Conan brat and Shinichi had client waiting for him so he went back". Sonoko asked " why are so defensive for him and not angry with your husband instead you are smiling". Ran realized she had made mistake and suddenly replied" see Conan has come from so far just for her so she doesn't want him feel bad and since Shinichi spend this much time so I let him go. I know how much cases are important for him". Then look towards Conan and smiled. "Hai ,Hai. I'm sorry" said Sonoko to Conan. He replied "that's okay, let's go party".

They all went to join rest of them. Rest of them heard conversation of Ran and Sonoko so they further had no question for them. Party went till midnight and then they all went to their room.

Ran asked Conan to come and sleep together with her. On listening this Sonoko teases Ran and said" why are you going to sleep with him , what are your intentions and would not your husband will upset on knowing that you slept with this brat." Ran yelled again on Sonoko and told her stop calling him brat and why would Shinichi upset, he is just a kid.

Ran calmed down and said" stop joking and should be in bed Today was long day and she wanted to talk Conan about his trip with his parents."

"okay, okay Oyassumini" Sonoko replied and went back . Ran and Conan went to their room saying good night to rest them.

Next day all went to their normal life's. Ran mom was returning home so they decided Conan will live with Ran in her room and Eri will live with Kogoro .

Ran knew the basics anyhow, and just work on a plan of how they should act and what not to do around Haibara.

"It's alright, Shinichi." Ran's calm voice startled him for a second; he hadn't expected her to speak. He stared at her; completely at awe with how forgiving and accepting she could be. After everything Shinichi had put her through, even after finding out it could have been avoid if he hadn't been such a douche, she still forgave him, and was basically telling him to calm down and forgive himself.

. Just tell me how to act around different people and who already knows." Ran smiled at him so sweetly, it made Shinichi feel guilty for ever doubting that she wouldn't forgive him and stick by him. She was a true friend, nothing like him. And she read his mind. How the heck did she do that? She read. His. Mind. How could she have literally just said what he was thinking? It was official. Ran had to be an angel in disguise that could read thoughts. There was just no way someone could be that amazing. Yet again Shinichi was left looking in awe at Ran, who giggled at him, effectively bringing him back to reality.

"Ah, thanks Ran. Ad for the people who know…. There is Agasa-hakase, my parents… _unfortunately…_ Haibara Ai, Hattori, I think Kid knows, hmmm… who else…. I don't think anyone else…" Shinichi trailed off and went into his full-out thinking mode, with his hand under his chin.

"Oh! You can act like you know around everyone who knows when we are alone, except for Haibara. Under no circumstance is Haibara to know that I told you. She'd kill me. And I'll tell you Haibara's story later, alright? You just need to know that she is in the same situation as me for now." Shinichi hopped off the couch and stretched. It felt like they had been sitting down forever!

"Sure, Shinichi." Ran stood up as well, and grinned at him, before bending down and placing a kiss on his forehead. Shinichi turned bright red, his mouth hanging open. "And you owe me that shopping trip!" She called behind her as she walked back to her room. Shinichi just stood stock-still, staring at where Ran had disappeared to. He pinched his arm to make sure he was awake. This had turned out a lot better than Shinichi had hoped.

A moment later, Ran came out with her handbag and began walking towards the door, stopping to on her shoes at the entrance. Ran gestured for Shinichi to follow her suit, and together they made their way down the agency steps onto the footpath.

"Where are we going?" Shinichi asked in his Conan voice.

"Shopping, of course" Ran smirked slightly as Conan replaced his grown with a kiddish 'hai!'

' _For more than just me… I am going to try to put you into some cute kiddy clothes as well Shinichi! Don't think you're getting out of this!'_ Ran thought to herself. She would have her fun with Conan. What could be described as an evil smirk was visible on her face. Walking beside her, Conan gulped. This couldn't be good….

The sun blinded the duo for a moment as the stepped out of the small alcove of steps into full sunlight. They shielded their eyes as they looked around at the sight before them. It was a beautiful morning, almost nearing midday now, and only a single cloud was present in the sky. Eagar to get started on her shopping trip (and dressing Shinichi in embarrassing clothes – not that he knew yet), Ran reached for Conan's small hand on instinct. Shinichi smiled up at her and squeezed her hand. They set off, content with everything at that moment.

To an untrained eye, they looked like your average kid walking with his older sister. However, if one looked closely, it was obvious that the way they were holding the other's hand was not the way a sister forcefully but gently guides her younger brother, but the way that two nervous high-schoolers would hold their crush's hand. Ran had slowed her pace so that Shinichi wouldn't have to jog to keep up, further proving that they weren't just an older sister dragging an uncooperative child along. The final topping on the cake was their smiles, which showed more emotion and were far gentler than was expected. But for once, Shinichi didn't care how they looked to the well trained eye. Today was about him and Ran. _Shinichi_ and Ran. He was sure that it would be fine to let his guard down slightly for one day.

Before long, the odd duo had reached the shopping centre Ran wanted to visit. It was relatively new, and not too far from their agency either. They rode up the escalator onto the second floor, and Ran headed straight towards a Cosplay shop. Shinichi could only stare at her quizzically as she dragged him into the kiddy Cosplay section, and a feeling of dread and certain doom came upon him as Ran began to giggle. This wouldn't be pretty.

Of course, Shinichi was wrong. He turned out very pretty in the Cosplay of Madoka from the anime _Puella Magi Madoka Magica'_. Ran tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle her laughter as she saw how cute Conan looked. The ice-daggers that she kept receiving from him only made her laugh all the more. At her request, Shinichi, albeit reluctantly, twirled around to show Ran how he looked from all angles. Shinichi's cheeks were as red as the blood on the corpses that he so often stumbled upon. Finally, after what was most likely only two minutes of torture, Ran sent him back into the changing rooms, only to find that she had another outfit waiting for him. He stared at it in horror and disbelief. He thought nothing could be as embarrassing as the last outfit, but this had to be at least three times worse.

After a full ten minutes of just staring at the Cosplay outfit, Ran called out to Shinichi.

"Conan-kun? Are you finished getting changed yet?" Somehow, Ran managed to hide her laughter from her voice.

"Wha? Almost, Ran-neechan!" Conan's voice answered back.

Shinichi quickly got changed into the next outfit, willing for this day to be over ASAP. He messed up his hair slightly, and placed a monocle over his eye in place of his trademark oversized glasses, wanting to do the Cosplay perfect. If he was forced to do it anyway, why not do it right? As he slowly stepped out of the change rooms, he heard a camera click. He whipped his head up, but had missed Ran's camera by only a few milliseconds. Deciding not to worry about that for now, Shinichi put on KID's trademark smile, and bowed before Ran. With a wave of his hand, a pink rose appeared in his hand.

"For you, ojousama. Although this rose cannot compare to your beauty." Shinichi mimicked KID's voice surprisingly well, and Ran took the flower gently.

"Trust and happiness…." Ran whispered, correctly stating the meaning of the rose.

Ran stared at the rose for a long while, and when she next looked up, Shinichi was no-where to be seen. Ran started to worry, until she saw the changing room curtain was closed. She remembered what the next outfit was, and hurriedly went into the change room beside Shinichi's to get into her outfit as well.

They stepped out at virtually the same time, both Shinichi and Ran nearly bursting out laughing at the other's Cosplay. Ran was dressed up as The 11th Doctor, wearing the tweed jacket, suspenders, bowtie, and of course the fez. Shinichi, on the other hand, was in a simple onesie suit that looked like it could have been PJ's for a little kid. His pink bunny ears flopped as Shinichi rolled around on the floor laughing. Ran's fez was discarded somewhere on the floor as she too rolled around in laughter, not able to stand safely on two feet.

It was a while before the pair was able to calm down. They slowly picked themselves up, smiling. Shinichi's smile disappeared quickly, however, as he remembered that he still had more outfits to dress up in. He made a small grumbling noise as he walked into the change rooms, soon followed by Ran who went into her own change room.

As soon as Shinichi saw the next outfit, he let out very childish squeal of delight. He eagerly donned the coat and the hat. Within five seconds (or thereabout), Shinichi was out of the change rooms, parading around in his new favourite outfit. A moment or two later, Ran emerged from her own change room, rewarded by the sight of Shinichi acting like an idiot, parading around in his Sherlock Holmes outfit. The smile on his face made him look like his apparent age, and he posed willingly for Ran as she took some photos on her phone. Soon, the inevitable question came.

"Ran-neechan! Ran-neechan!" Conan's excited voice proclaimed, "Can I stay in this outfit for the rest of the day? Pretty please?" Conan tried his best puppy-dog eyes.

"Maybe after you have tried on the other outfits? I spent ages trying to pick them out for you." Ran smiled sweetly, but Shinichi could hear the evil undertone in her voice. He sulked as he made his way back to the change rooms, pouting.

The next outfit wasn't as bad as the other ones, Shinichi decided. He only let out a small sigh as he changed out of his beloved Holmes costume and into some old lady clothes. After putting on the wig, and giving himself a quick check in the mirror, he began to step out of the change rooms yet again, this time donning the persona of Miss Marple, another 'detective' from the novels written by Agatha Christie. Shinichi had read all of Agatha Christie's novels, his favourite being the Orient Express mystery. He vaguely remembered having asked his dad to write a crossover fanfiction of Agatha Christie's universe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's when he was younger. As expected, his dad politely declined, and Shinichi never told anyone else what had happened.

Fully coming out of the change room, shaking his head free of his awful memory, he did a quick turn for Ran. Ran clapped her hands in delight, glad that she no longer had to prompt him to turn around in his outfits. After pretending to do a small catwalk, Shinichi hurries back into the change rooms. He had already snuck a look at the next outfit, and was quite excited.

In a flash, Darth Vader stepped out of the change rooms. Shinichi recreated Darth Vader's breathing noises from inside the suit. Ran laughed, asking Shinichi to say something else.

"No, Luke, I am your father!" Darth Vader's voice boomed out sinisterly.

"Wait, that's not the correct line!" Ran complained.

"Yes, it is," Shinichi's voice sounded, "Everyone just says it wrong. I will say it that way though if you wish." Shinichi sighed, complying at Ran's silent nod to go ahead.

"Luke, I am your father." Darth Vader spoke again, and Ran whipped out her phone to take a photo. Shinichi posed, doing some epic (and some ridiculously silly) poses for Ran's camera. After only a short while, however, Ran stated that it was lunch time, and all but shoved Shinichi back into the change rooms to get changed into his normal clothes.

Taking the pile of clothes in his hands, the Holmes and Darth Vader on top, as he fully intended to purchase those outfits; he walked out of the changes room for a final time. Giving a kiddy smile to Ran, full 'Conan mode' initiated, he begged her to let him buy his favourite two outfits. Of course, Ran gave in. It was his money, anyhow. After making their purchases and exiting, they went to the cafeteria for a late lunch. They had a pleasant meal, Shinichi glad to finally not have to order a kids meal, and Ran happy to be able to spend time with Shinichi again.

The rest of their shopping trip wasn't as eventful, Ran choosing to go to normal stores and try on clothes for herself, sometimes trying to make Shinichi blush by choosing cute outfits. Both of them strolled home in the multi-coloured sunset, pleased with the way the day went, and thanking their lucky stars that a dead body didn't drop from the sky. It should be noted that they both went to sleep very quickly that night, as they were both exhausted from their big day.

One thing was clear now. Shinichi would do anything for Ran, and nothing could ever come between them again. Their bond had strengthened so much over a single shopping trip, and a little time spent catching up. Hopefully the black org wouldn't come to tear them apart….

Conan groaned before opening his eyes. He noticed that instead of a futon, he was sleeping on a bed— Ran's bed.

He bolted out of bed in realization.

 _'Shit, I fell asleep here!'_ He glanced around the room and noticed that Ran was already gone. He sighed and picked his eyeglasses up from the table. Underneath his glasses, was a note.

 **S,**

 **Thank you for telling me. Don't worry, nothing will change except that we'll be stronger than before.**

 **Love, Ran.**

Conan smiled and pocketed the note. He needed to burn it later in order to get rid of the evidence.

 _'I promise to make it up to you, Ran. I'll do my best to solve this case so that we'll be finally together as Shinichi and Ran.'_

Conan decided to go directly to the living room instead of Kogoro's room. If Kogoro found him sneaking into the room, who knows what he'll do to him.

"Ohayo, Ran-neechan!"

"Ohayo, Conan-kun!"

And then they both yawned.

Silence.

Then the giggles started.

They both knew that they were going to be screwed at school today for sleeping during class but it doesn't matter since their hearts are finally at peace with one another.

"Tadaima!"

The only female resident of the Mouri Detective Agency was met with silence. Ran quickly scanned the room just to find out that no one was inside the office. She pulled her cellphone out of her skirt pocket to check the time.

It was already 5:30 pm.

"Are? I'm sure Otou-san and Conan-kun should already be here before me because I have karate practice again. I'm supposed to be home a little later than usual so they should be..." With one last glance around the room, she placed her bag on the table then noticed that someone was peacefully sleeping on the sofa.

 _'How could I have missed this?"_ Ran furrowed her brows. _"Well, he's been shielded by the backrest and he's so small now but aside from that... how cute!"_

Ran smiled giddily as she approached the sleeping figure. She sneakily snapped a picture for future - _ahem-_ purposes before kneeling beside Conan to gently remove the book he was gripping away from his little fingers.

Scrutinizing the book that he was reading before his slumber, she heaved a sigh and smiled. _'He definitely fell asleep while reading the latest Detective Samonji book..._ _Typical Shinichi. Such a mystery geek indeed.'_

After placing the book on the table, _but not before bookmarking the page Conan was on,_ Ran chuckled lightly as she gently removed his eyeglasses to place them beside the book for safekeeping. She caressed his forehead, moving his hair away from his eyes.

 _'Look at how young and innocent you've become, Shinichi.'_ She slightly poked his soft cheeks with her finger and then placed her hand there. ' _And yet I can still see your adult self at times despite the cute mask...'_ Ran kissed Conan's forehead before standing up to call her father to ask him about his whereabouts. But she halted her steps when she heard a weak groan.

"Ran... neechan?"

Ran smiled apologetically at the disoriented boy. "Oh sorry, Conan-kun. Did I wake you?"

Conan stretched his limbs— _like a kitten according to a chuckling Ran—_ to remove the knots formed in his muscles due to his unintentional slumber and forced himself to sit up. Ran giggled as she watched him rub his eyes clumsily with his little hands in an attempt shake away his drowsiness. She grabbed his eyeglasses from the table to wear it on the slowly awakening shrunken teen.

"Not really. Thanks, Ran-neechan." He adjusted his glasses in place then yawned once more. "And okaeri."

Ran smiled in gratitude then kissed his cheek. "Where's Otou-san?"

"He rushed out of the office when I arrived from school while humming what I'm assuming is Okino-san's new song. He's even skipping in his steps like a schoolgirl..." Conan said dryly. "I figured that Okino-san called him for a TV guesting since I found the telephone not in place, the bathroom smelled like an aftershave and Occhan's best suit and tie is nowhere to be seen."

"And he didn't even invite us? Geez..." Ran pouted then huffed. "See if I cook his portion of dinner tonight."

Conan laughed. "He probably thought that we would become a nuisance again."

"That Otou-san... I just hope he doesn't encounter a murder case wherever he is right now or else he'll be in trouble."

Conan laughed dryly.

Ran smirked in Conan's direction. "Oh wait since the real murder magnet is here, he won't. I might need to be prepared for another body to drop somewhere near here though..."

"Oi..." The boy sweat dropped.

Ran crossed her arms and whispered. "Anyway, I still don't approve of the way you're using my father to show off your deductions. You sure that your tranquilizer darts won't hurt him in the long run?"

Conan laughed nervously. "Well, Agasa-hakase assured me that it's safe. Unfortunately, a child can only get so far in investigating cases and I won't do it in the first place if your dad just understood my hints correctly..."

"Ah well..." Ran sweat dropped. "He's just uhm slow on the uptake but he can do it if he tried."

"I know. Occhan has proved it in a few cases especially when Kisaki-san or his close friends were involved. Whenever I try to shoot him with my watch, my resolve wavers the moment I see his determined face so what can I do aside from helping it solve it on his own?"

Ran smiled. "He might be incompetent at times but give my father a chance before you do it your own way, okay?"

 _'At times? More like most of the time... but oh well.'_

"Don't worry. I always give him and everyone a chance to solve the mystery. Though when it goes to the wrong direction..."

Ran immediately got what he was implying.

 _'After all, it doesn't matter who solves the mystery as long as it's the truth. Right, Shinichi?'_

"I understand, thanks Conan-kun. But geez, where does he get all the confidence? You do all the work and yet Otou-san never wondered why he doesn't remember the cases that he 'solves'! I'm surprised the police can even get a statement from him after the case..."

"I'm surprised, too. Though you already know how I act when we're being interrogated at the station, right?"

Ran remembered the times when Conan actively presented himself to retell the _Sleeping Kogoro's perfect deduction_ and then exclaim on how awesome it was.

It was very... interesting.

"Ah, I see." Ran muttered dryly.

"But he's the reason why I can still somehow survive as a detective so I owe it to him." Conan smiled.

 _'That, and I'm indirectly putting Occhan into the line of fire but that's why I'm doing my best to prevent the worst possible outcome.'_

Ran cheerfully patted his head. "You know, you've changed."

"Well Ran, as you can see I am now an elementary school student. _Again_. So of course there's gonna be some change somewhere in there, if it's not obvious enough." Conan deadpanned.

Ran rolled her eyes. "Gee, glad to know that the jerk in you is still alive and kicking." She paused for a bit. "But seriously, you've become humble and somehow uhm..." The girl averted her eyes. "...cooler. I don't know but despite appearances, you've become more mature. And that's saying something because you've always acted older than your age ever since we met."

 _'Cooler, eh?'_

Conan smiled wistfully remembering the times that his life has been on the brink of no return after that fateful night in Tropical Land. "Thanks, Ran. I never imagined— not even once—that I'd become like this but I guess when a person's life is challenged, one is forced to change in order to survive. _Adaptation_. Also, I've told you that I've had a lot of close calls after _that night_ but thinking about you and the people around me helped in not giving up the fight. Especially you, Ran. I needed to get back to you so I'm not stopping this fight until I do."

Ran already knew this fact but hearing it again from his mouth made her feel overwhelmed by her best friend's determination. Choosing not to reply with words, Ran smiled and offered her hand to Conan. "Well, enough with the serious atmosphere! Who wants ice cream?"

Conan's eyes lit up and grabbed Ran's hand. "We're doing this now?"

"Why not? I'll call Otou-san first to let him know we're leaving and ask him if he's going to come home for dinner."

The shrunken teen grinned. "I thought you're not going to cook him his portion for tonight?"

"I'm not that heartless, Conan-kun. Besides, you know how he is when his belly's not satisfied." Ran laughed then excused herself to call her father.

Conan smiled as he watched Ran change her expressions from inquisitive, to annoyance, to worry and to resignation during the phone call. He figured from her face that her father was giving her troubles again but he knew that Ran won't take it into heart because she doesn't really mind as long as her father is safe.

 _'Yeah, that's what she is. Of all people, I know you are definitely not heartless, Ran.'_

Kogoro was not coming home for dinner because, as Ran expected, his mahjong friends invited him into an overnight tournament of sorts. Deciding not to cook dinner, Ran and Conan decided to eat out at _Poirot_ then went to the ice cream shop afterwards for dessert.

As they were greeted by the cool air the moment they entered the ice cream shop, the two decided to find a seat first before ordering. Ran was about to go to the counter but Conan volunteered to order for the both of them. Ran smiled to give her thanks and reached for her purse but Conan stopped her.

"It's my treat, Ran-neechan! You're always working so hard so you need to have your reward!" Before Ran could protest, Conan already reached the counter and began to subconsciously _charm_ the cashier with his cheerful antics.

"Mou, what's up with people not letting me pay...?" Ran softly chuckled as she observed how adorable Conan was acting in public. He was cutely pointing at the Chocolate mudslide and the Strawberry cheesecake ice cream on the menu with a big smile then nodding at the cashier to affirm his order.

 _'If only the cashier knew that she's being charmed by a 17-year old high school student...'_ She stared flatly at Conan and laughed dryly. _"Oh yeah, I forgot. He always charms the ladies even if he did not try..."_ She waved back when she noticed that Conan was pointing at her direction, probably to inform the cashier on where to deliver the desserts.

"Oh that's your nee-chan? She's really pretty! And she's lucky to have you as a little brother since you're doing this on your own!" The middle-aged cashier cooed as she handed his change.

"Thank you, Oba-san! Ah, Ran-neechan is not my real sister. She's just taking care of me since my parents are away because of work. She's really, really pretty and kind and strong and I love her cooking so much! Come here, oba-san, I'll tell you a secret!" Making sure that Ran wasn't looking their way, Conan waved for the woman to lend him her hear then whispered, "Please don't tell this to anyone but when I grow up, I'm going to marry Ran-neechan!"

The cashier gasped, "Oh my!"

"Hmm! So wish me luck, oba-san!" Conan grinned.

"I'm going to cheer for you, young man!" The woman patted Conan's head and smiled as she let the boy happily return to his nee-chan.

"Ah, the little joys in life..."

The woman decided that adding some extra toppings to the adorable boy's order won't hurt anyone.

"Wow, it tastes really good!"

"See? I told you this shop is really worth it!"

"Thanks for bringing me here, Ran-neechan!" Conan cheered as he took another spoonful of his Chocolate mudslide.

"You're welcome!" Ran reached for Conan's cheek to wipe off the smeared ice cream on his face. "Geez, don't get ice cream on your shirt, okay? It will be hard to come off when I do the laundry."

"Yes, Ran-neechan!" Conan replied with constant vigor.

The customers in the shop were whispering on how cute the 'brother-sister' pair was. Conan snickered inwardly as he watched them slowly but surely falling into his 'charm' though his momentary trance was shattered when Ran's voice came in.

"To be honest, it's kinda scary that you're really, really good at this, Conan-kun." Ran teased but making sure that they weren't heard by other people. "I'm still constantly falling under your 'childish charms' even after telling me the truth."

"Heh, It's because Ran-neechan loves me so much!" Conan exclaimed but stopped when he saw the disapproving glance of his companion.

 _'Just how much sugar did you eat, Shinichi?'_

 _'Sorry, sorry.'_

He laughed nervously then whispered, "Though it probably came from the genes..."

Ran then wholeheartedly agreed with a laugh.

 _"It's a pain when I slip up to being childish every time I return to my former self."_ Conan muttered in annoyance then shifted to his childish act again. "Remember when you told me that Shinichi-niichan called you his nee-chan after your play?"

Ran nodded. "I thought he was acting weird that day but now that I know why he was being like that, I'm not going to ever forget that moment." She ended her statement with a teasing grin.

Conan just stared flatly at Ran while the latter tried to avoid it by helping herself to another spoonful of the heavenly dessert that her best friend ordered for her. He was about to retort but the content expression plastered on the girl's face while she was eating the dessert made the poor boy's heart leap.

He let the words die in his mouth.

 _'Now who's the one falling for the other's charms? Damn it, Ran...'_

After finishing their ice creams, the duo immediately went home since it was getting late and it was a school night. The moment they entered the apartment,

Ran and Sonoko, after finishing school, walked towards the agency. As usual, they passed through the market street where the organic market was held every Thursday. Sonoko stared at Ran from school, which was starting to annoy him.

\- What? What's the matter ?

\- Nothing.

\- Stop Sonoko. You fix me and you do not say a word to me since high school.

\- Hmm ... I think you changed.

\- Changed ?!

\- Yes I find you dazzling, blooming and dreamy ... as if ... as if ... you had seen someone yesterday.

\- ...

\- You have red cheeks, you have eyes that shine, you are all excited and sometimes absent. Yes, you saw someone yesterday! And not just anyone ... A boy!

Ran turned red, as her best friend noticed.

\- Ah! I knew it ! We do not hide anything from Sonoko!

Sonoko came closer to her and smiled.

\- So who was it? Your husband ?

\- My husband ?

\- Yes ! Kudo Shinichi. The most handsome boy in high school. Your childhood friend.

\- ...

\- He decided to leave his investigations aside and look more at you. Well, it's not too early. After a year of absence!

\- No that's not true ! He was not absent. He was there towards ...

\- Ah! So it was him! So how did it go? Tell Sonoko everything. I want to know everything in every detail!

Ran told in short who had gone the night before in the Ice cream parlour. Of course, she did not mention that it was Conan who had invited her to the base. Ran turned pink by telling her story while her friend had bright eyes.

\- Whoo! It's too good and then on the bench? You took his arm and kissed him?

\- ...

Ran became all red. Sonoko understood and became excited. Happy to hear you that her best friend had a boyfriend.

\- It's so cute ! Sonoko told him.

\- Oh how romantic it is! A little female voice answered behind them.

The two young women turned around and saw the Detectives Boys behind them.

They had not noticed that the children had followed them for five minutes.

\- Yes. It is very beautiful. I'm happy for you. Said Mitsuhiko.

\- Hey kids. It's a big conversation!

\- Leave Sonoko. I have nothing to hide. I told you everything.

Ayumi went to Ran and gently shook his jacket.

\- Ran?

\- Yes ?

\- How is Shinichi?

At this question she answered the little girl.

\- First of all Shinichi is curious even too much. He is too much in his job even to forget the people around him. He does not give and often do not take news. He is very mysterious. Always thoughtful. He is always sure of himself. It is pest ... ..

 _Ohe Ohe ..._

Ran looked at the sky.

\- But he has so many more qualities.

Ran watched behind her and saw Conan. She smiles.

\- Like for example ... .that is the best detective. The most talented in football. The most endearing. The bravest. Whoever would risk his life to save the people who love him or the innocent.

She stopped.

... the childhood friend we all want to have ...

 _Ran ..._

And she continued on her way.

\- But he is also very handsome and very sexy! Is not it Ran? Sonoko asked with a smile.

\- Yes it is the most handsome of all and he has a magnificent look. And you had to see when he was a child. He was too cute too!

\- Hey! What's up with Conan? Asked Genta.

Everyone turned to see Conan. The little boy with glasses was frozen like a statue. His head bowed, his face was all red.

\- Eho Conan? Mitsuhiko said to him, making signs in front of his frozen face.

\- Is he sleeping, do you think? Asked Genta.

\- But not Genta. You have already seen someone standing up!

\- Ehéhéhé no. Replied Genta laughing.

Ran approached him and stooped. She watched him and smiled.

\- We go back to the agency. Conan?

She took his hand.

\- What's wrong? Ayumi asked Ran.

\- He has a fever ? Asked Mitsuhiko. He was already in the clouds this morning.

\- No, he's tired. He went to bed late last night. I'll go. See you tomorrow Sonoko?

\- Of course Ran. I want to hear more. Sonoko replied, winking at him.

Ran left for the agency. Haibara, who was in the background and had seen everything, watched Ran and Conan leave and thought: No, it's not the fever he has. He's in love.

About ten minutes later, they arrived in a calm and peaceful park. At this time, it was rare to find someone. They walked quietly. Ran started to observe the little boy. He had his head turned on the opposite side of the high school girl and dropped.

\- What is it ? You do not say a word anymore.

\- ...

\- I see.

\- ...

\- Maybe you are so because you are destabilized when I give you compliments. Huh? Like for example, that you are very beautiful.

The little boy turned red. The high school student noticed and laughed. At the young woman's laugh, Conan looked at her perplexed.

\- It makes me laugh Shinichi. You a detective who is not afraid in front of a score of machine guns pointed at him, you are destabilized when I give you compliments! Ahahaha! You're too cute.

The detective turned his head.

\- Hum ... Everyone at his weak point ... he said softly.

Ran stopped laughing. She had heard.

\- I'm your weak point Shinichi?

\- I really noticed these times - if you are the most important person and I will do anything to save you even if it could cost me my life ...

The high school girl remained without saying a word.

\- But I thought about it and I said to myself: if my opponents would know, you would be in danger Ran. Like organization. If they knew it. They will took you, made you suffer and wanted to kill you ... .. I ... ..I would be angry if something happened to you mostly because of me.

The two remained without saying a word in their thoughts.

A few minutes later, Ran spoke up.

"Do you mean that it would be better if we did not see each other anymore, for my safety?

Conan did not know what to answer. He lowered his head.

A few meters further, Ran, after thinking well, stopped short. Conan still having his hand in that of the high school girl also stopped. He watched her.

\- You know ... ..All women who are married or who go out with people working in justice have this problem. They know the danger that follows them. Something happens to them or their man does not come home one day. I am aware of all this and decided to take the risk.

Ran looked in front of her with a decided look.

\- My decision is final Shinichi. I want to stay by your side!

The little detective did not know what to answer. He was so happy to hear what she had just said but on the other side something was hurting him. He looked at her with a smile but a sadness was reflected in his eyes. He rebuffed his head. Ran knew who was working on him. His rejuvenation. They walked in the grass and crossed a bridge decorated with beautiful spring flowers.

Moments later, Ran came to silence.

\- I do not know if you remember ... it was one night, when you invited me to a restaurant. Before dessert, there had been a murder in the hotel so you went to help the inspector to solve the case. I was hoping so much that you come back after the investigation but it was not the case. That's when a little boy with a red bowtie ... ..

She knelt down and replaced Conan's red bow tie.

\- ... has come to your place. He told me that you had to leave urgently for an investigation. I was sad, of course, and that's where he told me: Shinichi said to me:

Conan remembered that moment. He had taken an antidote and was able to become high school student again. He had invited Ran to dinner and a murder had taken place in the hotel where they were. He had gone to help the inspector and when he found the culprit and had finished the investigation, before going to Ran, the antidote was no longer effective and he had become Conan again. Not knowing his identity yet, he had to lie to him that Shinichi had to leave urgently. The detective felt bad when he saw that tears were starting to fall on Ran's cheeks. So he said to him:

But right now, in the center of the park, it was Ran who said to him:

One day. One day I promise you. I'll be back. Even if I die I'll come back. So ... then ... I would like you to wait for me.

Even if it would last ten years for you to find your height of high school student ... ..I will wait for you Shinichi.

Ran ... he replied happy.

He hugged her.

The high school girl started tickling Conan. He laughed.

I do not know why but lots of boys have tickling here.

Ran I ... .ahahahha!

Conan could no longer stand, fell on the grass. The schoolgirl kneeled and continued.

It amuses me to make you laugh. You are so serious.

Ahahha Stop please! Ahahaha!

Go Shinichi! Defend yourself!

How ... do you want me to defend myself with the little arms that I have.

Okay. Too bad for you !

Ahahahha

A few minutes later, Ran stopped tickling her. They were both sitting on the grass to catch their breath. Conan observed the schoolgirl with a smile and got up to take a little box in her bag. He took the gift and stood in front of his girlfriend to give it to him.

It's for you Ran.

For me ?

Yes. He answered with a big smile.

Shinichi! It's cabbage it was not necessary.

She opened the box and saw inside a gold necklace with a golden heart with a small emerald in the center. The high school girl put her hand in front of her mouth. Touched by the magnificent gift.

A drop of hope in a heart of gold. The detective explained to him. Green is the color of hope. You did not know my identity but you still waited until I came back. You hoped for it all along. And you are the sweetest and sweetest woman I know. You are a woman with Ran gold heart.

She knelt in front of the boy with eyes full of emotion.

Do you want me to put it to you?

Gladly.

Conan put the necklace around his neck.

Here. It suits you perfectly!

This gift is the most beautiful of all. Thank you.

She looked at the detective with immense joy. At this glance, Conan became embarrassed.

But it's nothing with pleasure.

Ran took off the boy's glasses and approached his face. The detective's cheeks grew more and more red as she approached. She put her hands on the boy's shoulders and imagining her as a high school student, she kissed the detective on the mouth.

The two lovers, in front of the sunset, near the goal of the football field, remained for a moment enjoying their love as if the weather had not or had not had an impact on them. The detective was thrilled. He was sure now, that even if it would take years for him to recover, his girlfriend will love him and wait for him.

When Ran moved away from Conan's face, the two stayed for a few seconds in their dream.

As he recovered his senses, the little detective looked around the room to see if anyone had seen them. He did not see anyone. He sighed with relief.

I checked before kissing you Shinichi.

Conan turned his head and smiled at Ran.

Thanks.

It's normal. We come back to the ...

Conan's phone rang. He reached for his phone in his pocket while balancing himself to remove his shoes. Ran ended his misery by helping him pull out his shoes and stored it in the shoe cabinet. Conan whispered his thanks before finally picking up the call.

"Ah, Hattori?"

Heiji's cheerful voice chimed in. "Yo, Kudo! Have ya heard ta news?"

"Which one? If it's the evening one, I have no idea since Ran and I just got home from dinner. As a matter of fact, I literally just went inside the house so it took me a while to answer your call." Sensing that her presence was not needed anymore, Ran patted Conan's head to let him know that she's going to stay at her room to do her homework.

Ran kissed the boy's temple. _'Tell me about it later?'_

Conan nodded. _'Sure.'_

"Oi Kudo!" The shrunken teen winced at the volume.

"Sorry, sorry." He went straight to the receiving area and sat down on the floor. "Just figured that I needed to make myself comfortable first because I can sense that this talk will be important. So?"

Conan can probably _hear_ Heiji's grin at the end of the line. "Ya guessed it right. I called Otaki-han as soon as I got ta _news._ I asked 'im about ta details of ta story since I know ya'll be very interested."

 _'Interested, huh?'_ Conan shifted his phone to his other ear. "So what's it then?"

"It's about yer favourite jewel thief. He sent a notice to Osaka Police HQ!"

 _'He's definitely not my favorite, though...'_ Conan laughed dryly. "So, in Osaka... Police HQ?"

 _'Nakamori-keibu's gonna flip when he hears about this.'_

"Yeah! I'm not sure why but ta notice said tha' he's gonna snatch a diamond from ta Thailand crown jewels on ta next full moon. Apparently, Thailand agreed to put up an exhibit here in Osaka. Am not surprised tha' they picked t'is place since Osaka is very beautiful!"

"Diamond...? Knowing KID, he might probably target the largest jewel there which is called, if I'm not mistaken, _The Golden Jubilee._ "

"Yeah, I think tha' was ta name."

"So what do you expect me to do? I can't really do anything since I'm in Tokyo and Ran would definitely make a fuss if she found out that I travelled to Osaka alone _on a school day._ "

 _'Well not really... because Ran already knows about me but Occhan's going to be a problem. He hadn't received any work recently and Ran's ransacking her brain for us to survive this month. Geez, that oyaji...'_

Heiji clicked his tongue. "It's a shame 'cause ta heist notice was addressed to ya, Kudo Shinichi-kun."

"WHAT!?" Conan shouted. In the other room, Ran was startled by her best friend's shout that she almost fell off her chair. She struggled to get outside her room and dashed straight to where the boy was.

"CONAN-KUN!?"

 _'Thank goodness she didn't shout my real name..._ '

"A-Ah, Ran-neechan!"

Scanning the room for intruders, she finally relaxed when she realized that there was no serious threat to Conan. "...what happened?"

"Erm, it's nothing! Heiji-niichan just startled me, that's all!" Conan chirped as he pointed at his phone.

Ran raised her eyebrow as if saying ' _I know something's up so we will definitely talk about that later.'_ then went back to her room after clapping his shoulder.

The boy sweat dropped and returned to his phone conversation.

"Wow, Neechan's really pumped."

 _'Can anyone blame her? She completely aware of my circumstances and knowing her, she'll be more paranoid about it than I. But going back to the more pressing matter...'_

"Why in the world would he do that!?" Conan hissed.

"I dunno. I'll send ya an image of ta notice later fer ya to analyze. Tho' there's nothing much to analyze..."

 _'Nothing much to analyze?'_

"Okay, thanks Hattori. I'll also show this to Ran later so that we'll be able to come as erm, Kudo Shinichi's representatives."

"Alright. But just be careful, Kudo. Since KID boldly included ya in ta notice, _those guys_ might suddenly be on high alert. If I just got ta notice first before it got to ta media then I could've excluded yer name there..." Heiji clicked his tongue in regret.

Conan swore. "It's okay, Hattori. If I get my hands on that thief, I swear I'll..."

Heiji sweat dropped as he listened to his best friend's dark mutterings about a certain white-clad phantom thief. It was weird though because despite his best friend's true age, he still sounds like a kid and a child using such colorful words is such a rare occurrence. He tried very hard to suppress his laugh. "Calm down. Neechan will probably lecture you if she heard her _little innocent Conan-kun_ mutter such colorful words. I'll do wha' I can on my side too so dun worry. Warn ta li'l neechan an' be careful 'bout ta big Neechan."

 _'I'll definitely warn Haibara although the Organization doesn't have an inkling that Kudo Shinichi has a connection with Sherry. And for them, Sherry is already dead so it's pointless to look for her. As for Ran... at least I won't have any problems regarding this.'_

"Thanks a lot, Hattori. We'll definitely be there on Osaka."

"A'right. Just call me or Kazuha before ya leave. I'll send ya ta heist notice via mail after t'is call."

"Okay, thanks again, Hattori."

"Sure, Kudo. Say hi to Neechan for me will ya? And I was really hoping that you weren't kidding about your question the last time we talked. It's been too long and Neechan needs to know."

 _'Oh Hattori, only if you knew.'_

Conan took a deep breath. "You already know what my answer will be, Hattori. And don't worry, I'll tell Ran that you said hi."

The shrunken teen heard Hattori sigh in resignation. "It's yer choice. Anyway, dun forget ta call me when ya leave fer Osaka, 'kay?"

"Sure, sure. Thanks, Hattori. Also, be extra careful because I kinda have a bad feeling about this heist."

"Sure, Kudo. And you're not the only one. Bye."

"Bye."

 _'Ah speak of the devil and it shall appear.'_ After Heiji and Conan's conversation, Haibara Ai called him.

"Kudo-kun?"

"Haibara."

"I'm taking it that you already know why I called."

"Well, your guess is right. Hattori called me just now to inform me of the _good news._ " Conan muttered dryly.

"And I'm also guessing that you're willing to fall into his trap?"

Conan snorted. "Trap? None of the sort. But I'm going to Osaka to do some damage control."

"Well then, just do it right. I'd hate for our hard work to just crumble and fall apart. Just a single slip of tongue will cause our identities to be leaked. Well, you're very much aware of that fact and the consequences that went along it so I expect you to not act foolishly. And no, I'm not giving you any temporary antidote." Haibara finished wryly.

 _'I know I've said this a lot of times but I don't even want to think about what she'll do to me once she finds out that Ran already knows...'_

Conan clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I wasn't going to ask you about that but... whatever. Just stay put in Hakase's house. Since the organization knows that Sherry is dead, they won't look for you. Although there's a risk that they might find me but... I think it's a very, very low possibility."

Conan decided to leave out the _'...as of now.'_ at the end of his sentence because he knows Haibara will get extra paranoid again.

 _'But Subaru-san will definitely protect Haibara so she doesn't have to worry.'_

"Get off the high horse, Kudo-kun. A very low chance is still something so don't get reckless." Haibara warned.

"Yes, yes. They're not stupid enough to commit a crime during KID's heist anyway. Too many police officers are present and the crowd will be suffocating. It might be good in using the crowd as cover but I don't think they'll cause a ruckus in an internationally-broadcasted event. They might get exposed in the public if they acted rashly and that's not a risk they're willing to take." Conan said in a bored tone.

Haibara was silent for a few moments.

"Oi, Haibara you still alive?"

"...you're planning something, aren't you?"

"Haah?"

Conan can imagine Haibara rolling her eyes at the end of the line. "Whatever, Kudo-kun. You're too smart to just assume their moves too quickly."

"You think too highly of me, Haibara. I'm just an ' _idiot mystery otaku'_ according to some people I know."

"Well they're right." The scientist scoffed. "... just be careful."

Click.

"Oi!" Conan stared flatly on his phone for a few seconds. "She actually hanged up..."

A few moments later, he shrugged and stood up to go into Ran's room.

Then he smirked.

"Well then, time to prepare for our journey to the _West_."

At Agasa-hakase's house, Haibara pocketed her phone, grabbed a new lab coat from her dresser and went straight to her lab. She sat on her chair and went to type something on her computer.

 _'Antidote, eh?'_

Ran settled herself near the bed's headboard. When Shinichi knocked on her door earlier, she was just finalizing her answers on her homework so she didn't mind the intrusion. She was the one who asked him to come anyway.

Patting the space beside her, Ran silently asked her shrunken boyfriend to settle down. Shinichi complied and told Ran about what the phone call with Hattori was all about. After Shinichi was done, Ran was very worried.

"Shinichi, are you sure that you're going to this heist?"

Shinichi shrugged. "This is the best choice, Ran. Of course, Kudo Shinichi won't appear in the heist since he's supposedly _dead_ — well at least to the people who did this to me..." He pointed at himself then continued, "...but the masses didn't know about that. All they know is that the Great High School Detective of the East has been missing-in-action for months. Stories about my death are probably going around but there's no confirmation about it. And with the sudden revival of my name because of this notice, it will cause a sudden ruckus that will make the Black Organization alarmed. This heist will be their big chance to confirm whether Kudo Shinichi is really dead or not based on his appearance during the heist."

Ran hugged her pillow tightly. "...This is really bad, isn't it?"

Shinichi took her hand and smiled bitterly. "Don't worry; I won't let them touch you or your family."

Ran squeezed his hand. "I know. I have faith in you. But I can't really help but worry since your safety is on the line here."

"I'll manage. I always do. I have allies that also want to bring down that organization so I will not be alone in this fight. Besides, they will not look for a kid. But Ran, are you sure that you want to go with me? You'll be missing school... and it will be dangerous."

"Of course I am! It's not like I can't defend myself. Besides, it'll be a bonus if I landed some kick on Kaitou KID." Ran's expression darkened. "I think I need to jog his memory about what he did to me before... and of course remind him not to blatantly use other people's names without their permission."

Shinichi shivered at the thought of KID being at the _mercy_ of Ran. _'I have half the heart to pity that old phantom thief but eh, he deserves it for messing with us.'_

"Relax, Shinichi. I'm just joking about the last part." Ran giggled. "Kidding aside, you need a bodyguard and I'm the perfect person for that job! Nobody will get wary of me because I'll just look like an overprotective sister, eh?" She winked.

 _'Really, Ran...'_ Shinichi laughed dryly. "Good luck on that."

"Hey, do you doubt my ability to fight?" Ran pouted.

Shinichi raised his hands in defense. "No, no. Not at all!"

 _'Although you suddenly forget your karate when supernatural things are involved...'_

"Anyway, when is the heist?"

"Ah according to this notice," Shinichi touched his phone to revive his phone and showed Ran the image of the heist notice that Hattori sent him a while ago. "Here."

Ran read the notice aloud.

 _'In the night of the blue moon, yours truly will collect the most precious diamond in Thailand's crown jewels which is to be temporarily housed in the nineteeth tallest building in Osaka._

 _P.S. I'd be very grateful if the Great Detective of the East attends my little entertainment show._

 _\- Kaitou Kid'_

"Hmm, I think this notice is pretty straightforward. Even I, a normal person can decipher it even for a bit. I heard at the morning news that a second full moon will come the day after tomorrow but I'm not really sure about the location..." She hummed in thought.

"Umeda Sky Building. It consists of two 40-storey buildings which are connected at the top by a floating garden observatory. His target is probably _The Golden Jubilee_ , previously called as _the Unnamed Brown_ , the largest faceted diamond ever cut in the world weighing at 545.67 carats. It was given to the King of Thailand as a gift before and now it's included in the royalty's crown jewels. I just checked online and saw that it was being loaned to Japan for a few days for an exhibit to strengthen the trust between the two countries. Unfortunately, it's being targeted by KID though he'll probably return it in the end as always. But if something bad happens, it might affect the trade relations between the Japan and Thailand."

"That sounds troublesome..." Then Ran stared flatly at Shinichi. "You really do know everything, eh?"

"Eh? Erm, I just read it before so..." Shinichi scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Anyway! Adding that problem to the fact that KID basically made my name famous again overnight is a pain in the ass. Well, at least he didn't blatantly write my name. So it's probably the media's fault for assuming that _'Kudo Shinichi'_ was the person that KID wanted to attend. Though I have no idea why he's inviting the representative of the East while he's in the West. Hattori's in there so why...?" Shinichi touched his chin in thought.

"Are you sure that the heist notice is really from KID?" Ran tilted her head.

"Eh?"

"Because as I've said earlier, his notice looked too simple. Even I, a normal person, can easily decipher it if I just use the internet to search for the terms. Usually KID's notices are riddles, right? I think the doodle was the same as the previous ones but... maybe someone is using KID's name to lure you out? Or I'm just overthinking...?"

At this, Ran noticed that Shinichi's eyes were widely opened.

"Shinichi...?"

"I see. So that's why..."

"Shinichi?"

"Thanks, Ran. You're right, there's a high possibility that Kaitou KID is not behind this heist notice. Though I'm still not completely dismissing the possibility that he really sent that notice by himself. But if it's a fabrication, based on what happened to the 'Seiran' painting before, he'll most likely appear to investigate about the dubious heist notice. I think KID was originally going to steal the jewel but unfortunately, he was late in sending the notice. Seeing that at the same time, it was convenient for him to get the jewel while he's finding the culprit, he'll go." Shinichi smirked. "This will be an interesting scenario if this happens..."

Ran shook her head. "Shinichi, this is really getting complicated yet you look so happy. Geez... "

 _'I sincerely apologize for being excited whenever there's mystery involved...'_ Shinichi awkwardly laughed to conceal his growing embarrassment. "I know. I need to call Hattori as soon as possible to warn him about this new perspective on the heist. Although it might have crossed his mind already but it's better to be safe than sorry. Thanks again for the insight, Ran."

Ran blushed at the detective's acknowledgement but happy that she was of help. "Uhm... it's nothing...?"

"Anyway, we'll leave tomorrow after school. Do you want to bring Occhan with us?"

"No. Don't worry I'll come up with something but I want my father out of this. He's already exposed as it is and..." She averted her eyes and bit her lip.

Shinichi smiled with sympathy. "I understand, Ran. Don't worry. I have friends that will watch over him. He'll be fine."

Ran just nodded in reply. Shinichi pulled her hand gently and kissed her on the cheek. "Let's get some sleep now, eh? We'll have a long day starting tomorrow."

Ran kissed his cheek in return. "Okay. Good night, Shinichi. Do you need help in packing?"

"Nah, I'm good, thanks. Good night, Ran." Shinichi smiled at Ran for the last time in the night and went out of Ran's room.

"Oh wait, Shinichi?"

"Yes, Ran?"

"It's a miracle that no one died around you today."

"...Leave me alone."

Ran's laugh was the last thing he heard before he finally shut the door.

Click.

"Hello Hattori? Do you mind hearing me out right now? I need your help with this."

Conan's eyeglasses gleamed.

"And I assure you this will be worth your time."

Seeking Kogoro's permission was fairly easy. Ran didn't even have to raise her fist to convince the older detective to let them travel to Osaka on a school day.

It was by pure coincidence that Ran's father was having a get together with his college friends that night so he won't be able to accompany the two children to Osaka. Adding Hattori's mother's reassurance via phone call, Kogoro gave in and let Ran and Conan do whatever they wanted.

"Just don't fool around there, hah? And yes, I'm talking to you, freeloader. You always have the tendency to run away so don't trouble Ran so much!"

Then came a cheerful reply. "Hai, oji-saaan!"

'Although you should probably stay out of trouble, too, Occhan…' Conan thought flatly.

"Take care of yourself, Otou-san! Don't trouble Okaa-san later at your dinner, okay?" Ran reminded her father with a wave of a finger.

"Hahhh? Who said that I'll be having dinner with—"

Ran just rolled her eyes. "She told me when I asked permission for Osaka." 'Irritably.'

Kogoro scoffed but the two didn't miss the small blush on his cheeks. Ran and Conan swallowed down their giggles, just to spare the poor man's so-called pride. "Whatever, just go to Osaka already! Just be thankful that I'm the kind of parent who is reasonable in letting you miss classes! Good thing Megure-keibu helped in vouching for you. That detective brat better repay you for this!"

A bead of sweat rolled down the shrunken teen's forehead. 'Believe me, Occhan. I'm in the process of repaying her now.'

"Hai, hai." Ran kissed her father's cheek before gathering their luggage. "See you in a few days! I've already told Azusa-san that you'll be having meals at Poirot while I'm gone so don't worry!"

Conan waved. "Bye, Oji-san!"

The older man just grunted and waved goodbye to the two.

Conan inwardly snickered.

'Occhan: 0, Ran: 1'

Ran grabbed his hand and smiled. "Let's go, Conan-kun?"

"Okay, Ran-neechan!"

"Hello Hattori?"

"Oh Kudo!"

"Ran and I are gonna go there now. Our flight's scheduled at 6:15 pm so see you in a few hours."

"I see. No Mouri-tantei with ya?"

"Nah. He had other plans for the night."

"A'right. See ya in a few hours."

Click.

"Kazuha-chan!"

"Ran-chan!"

The two girls hugged and were smiling from ear-to-ear. They haven't seen each other since the last case and it felt like it was ages ago.

(Actually it was just a month ago but let's just ignore the technicalities, shall we?)

"It's such a shame that Kudo-kun's not gonna make it."

Ran tried hard not to glance at Conan's way. "Can't help it. He's stuck in another case and he can't go to Osaka in time."

Kazuha grinned. "So he sent his girlfriend in his place, eh?"

Ran's cheeks felt like burning but tried to laugh it off. "N-no! I-I'm just accompanying Conan-kun, that's all. Shinichi told me that Conan-kun's very much capable since he's the 'Kid Killer' anyway."

Kazuha nodded slowly. "Well, that's true…"

"Also, Hattori-kun's here so it'll be fine!"

"Ehhhhh, is that so?" Kazuha dragged, glancing at Heiji's way.

The Great Detective of the West raised his eyebrow. "Wha' was that, Kazuha?"

"Nothin' ahou. It's just that KID invited Kudo-kun who's from Tokyo instead of ya. Does that mean Kudo-kun's a more worthy opponent, eh?"

"Ahou! I dun deal with stupid, old thieves so I dun really care! Besides, they have this rivalry goin' on between them so who am I to intrude?"

Kazuha rolled her eyes, making Hattori ticked. "Yeah right. Not that I saw ya with a depressed face after Otaki-han called."

Hattori flushed in embarrassment. "Why you—"

While their friends were arguing, Ran and Conan exchanged a subtle glance. They both shrugged and sighed, looking back to the bickering duo.

'Here they go again…'

The faux child tugged on Ran's sleeve. "Ran-neechan, wanna sit for a bit? Knowing them, this might take a while…"

"Alright, I'll take that offer Conan-kun. Thanks. Want some juice?"

"Sure. Thanks, Ran-neechan!"

"You're always welcome!"

The Tokyoites sat on the nearby bench and casually sipped on their drinks while waiting for the two raging storms to subside.

"It's always fun seeing you two overflowing with sexual tension, Hattori." Conan's voice was laced with sarcasm. "As usual."

"Shut it, Kudo!" Heiji hissed.

Conan rolled his eyes then sent a teasing grin towards the Osakan boy's way. "But it's true. Ah now that we're on this topic, I should probably tell you Haibara still didn't change her ringtone yet."

Hattori sighed miserably. "Ya went to Osaka just to gossip about this?"

The faux boy decided to spare his friend from further embarrassment by changing the topic but not before shooting a meaningful snicker at Hattori. "Did Nakamori-keibu and his team arrive yet?"

Hattori, ignoring his friend's insinuation, was able to immediately compose himself back to normal and answered, "Yeah. They arrived this morning an' is currently flockin' the sky build."

'Well, what can you expect? It's Nakamori-keibu…'

"And did you tell them that Kudo Shinichi will not arrive in the heist?"

"Yeah. An' honestly, Nakamori-keibu doesn't care about Kudo appearing at the heist. An' I quote, 'Good! That's one annoying brat out of the way! I'm the one who will catch that damn thief!' Tho' he got angry real quick when I told 'em that ya guys were comin' in his place." Hattori laughed.

Conan laughed dryly in return. 'Well technically I'm still here so sorry for being an annoying brat, Nakamori-keibu.'

"Ah, I almost forgot!" The Osakan boy suddenly exclaimed. Conan just raised his brow in inquiry.

Heiji clapped his hands to get the chattering girls' attention from their girly conversation. "So wanna get ta best okonomiyaki in Japan?"

"I hope and pray that we'll be able to finally eat it this time…" Conan whispered.

"Kudo, please let Neechan find a priest ta exorcise ya." The Osakan detective murmured flatly.

Conan was not entirely pleased especially when he saw Ran, who was obviously eavesdropping, trying to stop her laugh from coming. Since he can't be openly affectionate to his dear Ran-neechan, he glared at Heiji with twice the intensity instead.

"You shut it Hattori or else Haibara will be coming here real quick with her LG Prada phone."

Heiji was about to open his mouth but was cut off when Conan continued.

"And I will message her the moment she arrives within Kazuha-san's vicinity. Many times."

The Osakan teenager shut up faster than a speeding bullet.

'Well ignoring the actual physics surrounding it but whatever, this reaction still looks hilarious.' Conan smirked and glanced briefly at Ran. 'At least I stopped Ran from sending the recording to Kazuha-san. He better be thankful about this.'

Ran stifled her snort under her hand.

"Ran-chan, are ya okay?"

She waved her hands in dismissal. "Don't worry, Kazuha-chan! I just remembered something funny from a long time ago."

"Does it involve Kudo-kun?" The ponytailed girl questioned with a grin.

Ran giggled. "Well, in a way…"

"Ooooh, tell me about it!"

'Ran, what exactly are you telling Kazuha-san about me?' Conan sweatdropped.

"Oi ya two! Let's get to ta shop a'ready or else we're not gonna 'ave anythin' fer dinner!" Heiji called.

Kazuha checked her watch. "Oh my! We've been stallin' here fer almost an hour now."

Ran and Conan almost fell on the floor.

'If you guys didn't bicker for so long, then we would have left earlier!'

Kazuha slightly pulled Ran's arm. "Let's go, Ran-chan! We'll finally be able to make you taste the greatest okonomiyaki in Japan!"

The girl just laughed and let her excited friend drag her towards a grinning Heiji and Conan.

Fortunately, they were able to make it in time to finally enjoy the okonomiyaki that everyone's been craving for ever since they all met for the first time.

Ran patted Conan's head as a reward for not attracting any murders during the meal.

Conan was not amused but it was undeniable that he appreciated the gentle contact very much.

They arrived at the Hattori residence an hour before midnight and since it was inconvenient for Kazuha to go home, Shizuka-san, Hattori's mother, let her stay.

"Thanks, Oba-san! I'll leave early in the morning so that I can prepare fer school." Kazuha bowed.

"No need for thanks, Kazuha-chan. You've always been with my Heiji so I also think of ya as my own child." Shizuka smiled. "And I a'ready called yer mother an' she said that yer father will bring yer things here tomorrow morning."

If faces could burn, then Kazuha's already in flames. "T-Thank ya, Oba-san…"

To save Kazuha from further embarrassment, Ran decided to speak up. "Thank you again for letting us stay in your wonderful home, Hattori-kun no obaasan."

"Ah, Ran-san an' Conan-kun! No need fer thanks, young lady. And no need fer formalities, my dear so please make yerselves at home. Oh by the way, did my Heiji arrive in time?"

"Oh yes, and he also treated us at the famous okonomiyaki shop here so we felt very much welcomed." The Tokyo girl smiled.

"Good, good. I know that ya two are exhausted from yer flight so I'll show ya yer rooms now. Since Kazuha-chan will also be staying, she'll be with ya in the guestroom while Conan-kun will stay with Heiji. Is that a'right?"

"Oh, that's alright Shizuka-san. Thank you." Ran slightly bowed to express her gratitude to the older woman then turned her attention to Conan. "Conan-kun, avoid troubling Hattori-kun too much, okay? At least for tonight. We had a long day and I know that you're tired so don't sleep so late, alright?"

In his mind, Conan translated Ran's words as:

'I know you're excited to talk about the heist with Hattori-kun but please, don't forget to sleep okay? You'll need the energy for tomorrow.'

"Okay, I won't bother Heiji-niichan too much, Ran-neechan! And don't worry about me! I promise I'll go straight to sleep so good night! Sweet dreams!" The boy reached out to hug the taller girl and kissed her on the cheek. Both missed the strange look on Hattori's face and the other females' cooing about how cute the two are.

Ran smiled and patted Conan's head. "You too. Good night, Conan-kun!"

After one last squeeze, they pulled away from the embrace. The boy smiled and started to walk away while waving enthusiastically at his 'caretaker'. He tried to get Heiji's attention by tugging at his sleeves.

"Let's go to sleep now, Heiji-niichan! Tomorrow is a big day!" He chirped.

Hattori now had a smug grin plastered in his face and the little boy didn't like it. He picked Conan up by the collar and turned to the direction of his room. "A'right kiddo, let's go. G'night, Okan. G'night Kazuha an' Neechan." He waved before he walked away with a struggling Conan.

"Hattori-kun! Conan-kun's choking!" Ran exclaimed.

"Whoops." Heiji set the gasping boy down and was met with a reprimanding look from Ran. "Sorry, sorry."

Conan's caretaker shook her head. 'Seriously, these two are so…' She sighed and waved at the two boys for the last time while Kazuha called Heiji for the last time.

"Dun make Conan-kun stay up late, ya ahou! G'night!"

"An' dun make Neechan stay up late either, ya ahou!"

Shizuka, who was observing them in silence, just smiled at the children's antics. After her son was gone from their sight, she called the attention of the two girls.

"Okay, Ran-san an' Kazuha-chan, let's go to your room, shall we?"

The girls agreed and let the older woman lead them towards their shared room.

After settling down in their room, Kazuha was gushing on how adorable Conan was acting earlier.

"Ran-chan, I didn't know that Conan-kun can be so adorable like that!"

Ran titled her head in confusion. "Eh? What about Conan-kun, Kazuha-chan?"

"He's so adorable, givin' his older sister a good night kiss! Maybe I should've asked fer one, too…"

Ran smiled but on the inside, she was a bit nervous. 'Oh no, we totally let our guards down earlier… Don't worry, Ran. No one will get suspicious because it just looked like a gesture of sibling affection. Calm down.'

"A-Ah! Conan-kun always does that whenever it's bed time or when he's leaving the house. I guess it was the first time that you saw it happening. He's usually very shy about it so maybe he was just too sleepy to remember that he had an audience earlier when he did it."

"I understand. He was probably tired from the flight so he let his guard down. Ya know how mature that kid's actin' sometimes but seeing him like that gave me a refreshing feeling about him. Ya two really have a good relationship—Like real siblings. Despite us being in a single-child family, we both have ahou's as childhood friends so we weren't really alone… but well ya know it's a different case."

Ran sweat dropped. "True. We fell in love with them instead."

A blushing Kazuha tried to protest but stopped when she realized that she already admitted her feelings towards her childhood friend to Ran. She slumped in defeat and let out a sigh. "With an ahou…"

The Tokyo girl patted the sighing girl. 'Oh Kazuha-chan, if you only knew what's happening…'

"I guess I felt a very special connection to Conan-kun since he reminded me a lot of Shinichi. Not that it's surprising since he's distantly related to Shinichi and all of Conan's knowledge came from the mystery geek." Ran explained. 'What an understatement though…'

"Be careful, Ran-chan. Conan-kun's tendency of suddenly runnin' away whenever he smells a case was probably inherited from yer boyfriend." Kazuha lightly warned.

Ran laughed at the statement. "Don't worry. I have it under control."

Kazuha joined her in laughing, too.

"Ne, Ran-chan?"

"Yes, Kazuha-chan?"

"I noticed this earlier but didn't have the chance to confront ya about it..."

"What is it?"

"Ya usually dun wear earrings but I can't help but notice the pretty ones that yer wearin' right now." Kazuha pointed at Ran's ears. "So I figured that it's an important pair. Did yer mom give them to ya?"

Blood surged into Ran's cheeks and smiled shyly. "No... Shinichi gave them to me. Well, he asked Conan-kun to give them to me in his place since he's still not done with the case but still..." She tenderly touched her ears and spoke softly. "He said it was a symbol of his promise to return to me someday..."

Kazuha squealed. "That's so sweet, Ran-chan! I'm happy fer ya!" She hugged the other girl who just laughed bashfully. "He might be actin' as a jerk sometimes fer leaving a pretty girl like ya waitin' fer so long, but I can feel that he loves ya very much."

Ran smiled. 'I know, Kazuha-chan. I know.'

"You think so, Kazuha-chan?"

"Hmm!" Kazuha nodded. But a few moments later, her enthusiastic mood suddenly died down. She averted her eyes from her friend's and mumbled softly. "I wish Heiji could be sweet like tha'... But what can I expect? He's an ahou."

Ran smiled, remembering Conan's story about Heiji's possessive declaration at Ebisu bridge.

"And he was like, 'Wacha doin' to my Kazuha!' then dropped the call. The kids and I heard everything and luckily I was able to save a recording of that. Hattori made me erase the file due to a favor involving a case but too bad, the kids also had a recording of that. Haibara even uses that as her ringtone and I swear it's hilarious!'

Ran giggled. She thought that Shinichi was acting like a real child while trying to tease Hattori. "You're so mean, Shinichi, blackmailing Hattori-kun like that. When Kazuha-chan confronted Hattori-kun about it when we were in Kamaitachi Inn, he twisted the statement again and got away with it. Poor Kazuha-chan was so confused. Geez, those two are so..."

Shinichi snorted. "He's been blackmailing me ever since he knew about my identity but let's spare Hattori the trouble for the meantime. I think he's trying his best to tell Kazuha-san his feelings. That's an improvement since he's been in denial since forever." He rolled his eyes briefly then menacingly smiled.

"But I'll kick him where the sun doesn't shine if he screws this up."

"And I'm going to help you with that, Shinichi. Trust me."

Ran rubbed Kazuha's back gently. "Don't worry, Kazuha-chan. Somehow, I can feel that Hattori-kun treasures you greatly. Maybe he's just finding the right timing to properly tell you about his feelings." She chuckled. "It's kinda hard to love a detective, you see? Shinichi's somewhere far, trying his best to solve a very hard case that he's been working on for almost a year, leaving me here patiently waiting for his return. But I don't mind since I know that he's worth it."

'Although, he really never left me.'

Ran made Kazuha face her and looked straight into her eyes. "Do you think waiting for Hattori-kun is worth it, Kazuha-chan?"

Kazuha's reply was immediate.

"It is, Ran-chan. It is. Even if he's an ahou, or if he doesn't love me now... my feelings will be the same. And I'll always be by his side." The girl's eyes were brimming with tears. "You're so strong, Ran-chan. I don't think I could handle the pain if Heiji suddenly disappeared for a long time."

Ran shook her head. "I cried so many times wishing that he would come back to soon. The phone calls were rare and whenever I ask him when he's going to return, he's being so evasive. It felt so painful knowing that our relationship was slowly changing to the point where I'm not even sure if I still knew my childhood friend. I'm not going into the details but something happened recently to the two of us and suddenly, I felt a sense of security and curiosity. I finally knew where I stood in his life and the only thing that I can do is to him give my support and wait for his return."

Kazuha wanted to ask what happened between her the couple but decided to withdraw when she saw Ran's pleading face. "Ran-chan..."

"So don't lose hope, Kazuha-chan! It will come in due time. If you want, I could make Shinichi convince Hattori-kun to just go do it!" Ran laughed.

"Ran-chan!" Kazuha exclaimed. "Thanks but ya dun have to ask him fer me. I'm fine." The Osakan girl hugged her friend. "Kudo-kun is very lucky to have ya. An' of course, I'm also lucky to have ya as a friend!"

Ran smiled brightly. "I'm lucky to have you as a friend, too, Kazuha-chan! I guess we have to thank our idiot detectives for that, ne?"

Kazuha rubbed her eyes. "Sorry fer suddenly bein' so dramatic. Geez, love really makes people so mushy an' stupid! But we should probably go to sleep now, eh? Since tomorrow's gonna be a long day. An' Heiji's gonna blab if he finds out that ya didn't sleep enough!"

The other girl just giggled. "I agree. Don't worry, I'll definitely protect you from Hattori-kun. Good night, Kazuha-chan!"

"No need, Ran-chan. I'll personally throw him where the sun doesn't shine! Good night, Ran-chan!"

After settling on the bed with Kazuha, Ran's thoughts before closing her eyes were on Shinichi. 'It's good that he's with Hattori-kun right now since he can take his mask off after a very long day and be himself around him. But I'm a little bit worried about Shinichi since Hattori-kun also saw that…'

The moment Heiji closed the door, his smug grin turned wolfish. "Oooooh, so Conan-kun's gettin' so affectionate to his Ran-neechan, eh?"

Conan's face was blank. "Huh?"

"What ya did to neechan!"

"Uhh…"

"Hug an' kiss on the cheek? Did ya really become a real kid now or—"

'Now I know why I didn't like that smug smile earlier…' Conan laughed dryly. "If you were that jealous, then ask Kazuha-san if you can do it with her, too."

That definitely wiped the smug look on Heiji's face.

"And come on, can't I kiss my girlfriend? Even at this state, I can still give her a kiss, right?" The faux child said nonchalantly. "Not on the lips though, that's still scandalous now but you get my point."

The Osakan detective's face was pale and started stammering.

"A-Are ya an' N-Neechan…? D-Did ya finally—"

"I'm kidding, Hattori. Relax. And sorry but Ran still doesn't know about Conan's real identity." Conan rolled his eyes. "It's just something a little kid would do to his favorite 'neechan' before going to sleep. It'll be more convincing that way, right? Shinichi won't do those kinds of things to Ran so no one will suspect me."

'Haha... though that's pure bullshit. That's just a normal kiss on the cheek. It was a habit ever since Ran found out. Not that Hattori needed to know about that.'

"Ugh yer so infuriatin', Kudo! Neechan's gonna kill ya when she finds out…"

"It seems that infuriating people is what I do best, Hattori." He rolled his eyes in sarcasm. "Also, I've been prepared for that horrible consequence ever since the lie started so..." Conan shrugged.

The taller teenager just gave the shrunken teen an are-you-serious-look.

Conan decided to ignore the stare and started to rummage his backpack for his change of clothes. "We need to rest now especially you, since I don't think Kazuha-san would let you skip classes."

"Che, as if I'd be stopped by that woman…"

The shorter detective stared at Heiji flatly. "Trust me, Hattori. Don't underestimate what childhood friends can do."

Both shuddered at the thought. After a few moments, Hattori suddenly clapped his hands.

"Ah! I forgot to ask Okan for a futon so I'll just grab something from the other room. Wait, is a futon a'right with ya?"

"Yeah, it's fine thanks. To be honest, everything's fine as long as I can't hear Occhan's snoring…"

Hattori barked a laugh at that. "The bathroom's just around ta corner so do yer thing already so that we can sleep afterwards."

"Sure, sure. See you later."

"Yeah."

/

From: Shinichi

Subj: -blank-

. . .

Ran,

I know it was hard for you to keep this from another friend. Yes, I know about Kazuha-san asking you about your earrings. I noticed that she's been staring at it since we arrived so I figured that she's gonna ask about it since she' been fidgety around you. I know you were having troubles in talking to Kazuha-san about me so I'm sorry that you were doing this because of this stupid, mystery freak. But I promise that I will make it up to you.

Good night. I love you.

Shinichi.

/

/

From: Ran

Subj: -blank-

. . .

Baka. Why are you still awake? Children should go to bed early! (laughs)

And of course, you were able to deduce that. You should book your deduction skills a vacation. They might be overly used already. Kidding.

It isn't like you to be sappy, Shinichi. Even calling yourself a stupid, mystery freak? The world must be ending! (sweat drop)

Don't worry about me. It's okay. You know I've already made the decision, right? So stop those stupid ideas of me being troubled because of your secret get into your brain.

And you've already agreed to be my punching bag when you return, right? So prepare for that! (fist emoticon)

Geez, I think Kazuha-chan's onto our conversation so I'll end this now. Good night! I love you, too! (kiss)

Ran.

/

/

From: Shinichi

Subj: Don't reply

. . .

For your information Ran-san, I'm already in bed! This guy here went to go get my futon since we had a sudden change of room assignments so it took some time. And it seems that you girls were also still awake. Kazuha-san has classes so go to sleep already! :P

Sweet dreams.

Shinichi.

/

Kazuha won against Heiji that morning.

The Osakan high school detective was eager to skip school to tour Ran and Conan around some places in Osaka before the heist but his childhood friend 'kindly' reminded him that they had an important exam today.

"Wait, that was today!?"

"Yes! Ya claim thar ya are a great detective yet ya forget an exam!? Yer still a high school student in case ya forgot ya ahou!"

"Ahou! I was busy an' this heist was more important than an exam!"

"May I remind ya thar yer ta only one who's gonna take the exam because ya missed it already before, Ahou!"

Heiji blinked, extinguishing his anger. "…Ah, is that so?"

Kazuha facepalmed.

Their two visitors sweat dropped.

'Hattori's an idiot…' Conan laughed dryly. 'Although Ran and I are actually the ones skipping school.'

Ran decided to take control of the situation and spoke up. "A-Ah, Hattori-kun? Don't worry about us. Conan-kun and I are getting familiar with the Osakan roads and I think we're going to be fine. And we have Otaki-keiji's number so we can call him to fetch us if we can't find the Umeda Sky Building. Right, Conan-kun?"

"Yes, Ran-neechan! So Heiji-niichan can go with Kazuha-neechan to school and take his missed exam!" The pseudo-kid chirped, making sure that Hattori got his message.

'I told you, you can't win against childhood friends –slash- love interest."

Heiji shot a heated glare at the kid then turned to Ran.

"Sorry about that, Neechan. I was planning to take ya two to various food places here but well…" Heiji scratched his head in apology.

"Believe me, Heiji, I'll skip with ya today if ya only took ta damn exam ta last time! Yer always runnin' off whenever ya smell a case." Kazuha glared at her childhood friend for the last time before smiling at Ran and Conan's direction. "Sorry about that, Ran-chan, Conan-kun. I'd love to go with ya today but well, ya know. Someone has to keep this ahou on a leash. But let's meet after school! I'll call ya and we'll go to wherever ya are."

"Sure, Kazuha-chan!" Ran smiled.

"Oi what leash!?"

Heiji's protests were ignored. He sighed and turned to Ran.

"So Neechan, where do ya plan on going before ta heist?" Hattori inquired while fitting his shoes.

"Hmm, Conan-kun and I are planning to just stay here until lunch and probably walk around for a bit afterwards. So you don't have to worry at all, Hattori-kun!"

"I see, I see. Then we'll just see ya guys later. Call whenever ya need us, a'right?"

"Of course. Thanks, Hattori-kun."

Hattori proceeded to ruffle Conan's hair, who was displeased with the action. "Ya too, kid. Behave around yer Neechan, okay?"

"Okay, Heiji-niichan! Good luck on your exam." Conan fake cheered, intentionally ignoring the tick on Heiji's forehead. "Ran-neechan and I will be alright! So don't worry!"

"Awww, Conan-kun's so adorable!" Kazuha cooed. "So Heiji, dun be a bad example to the kid an' let's go a'ready before we got late!"

"Sheesh, okay, I'm comin'. Bye, Neechan! Bye Ku—erm Conan-kun!"

"Bye bye!"

As the two figures disappeared from a distance, Conan turned to Ran.

"See how bad he is at acting? He almost said my name again in public."

Ran giggled and fixed Conan's ruffled hair. "Well, Conan-kun, he's trying his best. Just remember the many times he saved your hide, okay?"

The boy just mumbled an 'of course I remember'.

"So, what are we going to do now?" She asked.

Conan's glasses gleamed.

"Conan-kun, I have a feeling that you're going to do something ridiculously smart again." The girl nervously laughed.

The shrunken teen shot an innocent grin at Ran.

"Whatever are you saying, Ran-neechan?"

Ran heavily sighed and grabbed Conan's hand. "Geez, alright. Let's go so that you can do your thing already, Meitantei-san."

It was finally time.

After Heiji and Kazuha's class, they met up with Ran and Conan who was at a café near the Umeda Sky Building to grab some snacks before the heist. After that, they met up with Otaki-keiji who accompanied them to where Nakamori's troops were patrolling.

Nakamori stooped down to Conan's level and stared flatly at the kid. "So it's you again, huh?"

"H-Hello, Nakamori-keibu…" Conan laughed nervously.

"I don't know what KID's business with Shinichi Kudo is but if you kids ruin my plans to capture him, then you're going out!" Nakamori stomped away after pinching the newcomers' faces for obvious purposes.

Ran and Kazuha rubbed their faces to soothe the sting from the officer's pinch. "He didn't have to pinch that hard…"

"Nakamori-keibu's always like that so we're already used to it." Ran explained.

"I wonder if KID's going to have his way today. Especially when the KID Killer and the Great High School Detective of the West are here to witness the heist." Otaki-keiji mused. "Whatever the results will be, I'm sure it will definitely going to be interesting. But of course, I'm siding with the police."

Conan, Ran and Heiji froze when they heard an awfully familiar voice pipe up from Otaki's back.

"I would agree with you, Otaki-keiji. It would be very interesting, indeed."

Hattori was gaping.

"K-K…"

Ran was gripping Conan's hand hard that the boy was feeling the girl's shock at the newcomer. Conan inwardly cursed and squeezed Ran's hand back to try and soothe her.

..

"…Shinichi?"

"Yo, Ran."

The newcomer turned out to be the supposedly absent Great High School Detective of the East, Kudo Shinichi.

Aoko Nakamori stomped towards her childhood friend's desk and slammed the newspaper down in front of him. Kaito Kuroba, who was busy browsing his tablet for the latest news, looked at the irritated girl and raised his brow.

"What's up, Aoko?"

The girl grumbled some unintelligible phrases before answering, "That dumb thief has a goddamn heist in Osaka!"

Kaito set his tablet down and leaned towards Aoko. "Who?"

"Kaitou KID! He just announced that he's going to steal some jewel in Osaka and now Aoko's dad will be going to Osaka leaving Aoko alone…"

'Aoko…' Kaito frowned. "Why didn't you ask to go with him?"

Aoko stared flatly at Kaito. "Stupid, we have school!"

"So?"

"Aoko's not like you, Bakaito. Aoko doesn't skip school just for that. Hmph, his heist is full of stupid fangirls anyway so maybe it's better for Aoko to not go there. Aoko just wanted to cheer on Aoko's father because that stupid KID always humiliates him." Aoko pouted. "And Aoko still doesn't see any reason why you should idolize him, Kaito."

The magician grinned while ruffling the girl's hair. "Heh, a little girl like you won't understand my— wait. Did you say that Kaitou KID will have a heist in Osaka?"

Aoko, ignoring her best friend's defilement of her hair, stared incredulously at her best friend. "Kaito, did you hit your head on something? That's what Aoko said the first time Aoko talked to you!"

Kaito almost dropped his jaw on the floor but luckily, he immediately plastered his pokerface and grinned at Aoko.

"Nah, I was just testing you. Also Aoko—"

And in a blink of an eye, Kaito was able to flip Aoko's skirt so that her underwear was exposed to the world.

"—are you trying to be sexy? What lacy underwear you have in there, my dear! And oooooh, it's black! So is this your way to rebel against KID?" Kaito finished with a wolfish grin.

Aoko's face flushed in embarrassment while she fumbled on her skirt in an effort to salvage her decency. Or what was left of it. In a few moments, her embarrassment turned into rage as she brandished her trusty mop out of nowhere and started their typical chase around the room.

"KAITOOOOO!"

"And it begins…" Keiko shook her head along with the whole class and tried to continue with the lesson, ignoring their bickering married couple.

It was just another typical day at Ekoda High School Class 2-B.

School finally ended and after getting away unscathed from Aoko's mop, Kaito rushed home to meet Jii on Blue Parrot.

(He never forgot to leave a red rose on her hair though as an apology for not walking her home.)

Setting his school bag on the bar counter, Kaito sat down on one of the stools and said, "Jii-chan, have you heard the news?"

Jii nodded grimly while he wiped one of his wine glasses clean. "Yes, Bocchama. According to the heist notice, the fake KID is going to get the Unnamed Brown at Osaka on the next blue moon which is coincidentally, our next target. We were supposed to send a notice beforehand but…"

"Someone got onto it first, huh…" Kaito placed his chin on his palm while leaning on the counter.

"I don't have a good feeling about this, Bocchama."

"Me, too. But it's interesting, right?" Kaito grinned. "They even included Meitantei-san in the notice. I have a feeling that the instigator of this fake notice wants to lure someone…"

"Snake..?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know if we don't act upon it. If it was Snake, then he can come at me. I'll probably get the jewel anyway and if it is Pandora, then we both know what will happen. But if it's not, then let's leave it to the detectives roaming around the place to solve it. I'll try my best to lend my assistance by exposing that this heist was not started by KID but I'm not going to be deeply involved in that."

"Do you have a plan, Kaito-bocchama?"

"I always do, Jii-chan. I always do. But there's still a chance that it will fail so we need to have a back-up plan. We need to come up with all the possibilities of infiltration and exit in this heist. This diamond… is really large. There's a high possibility of it being a doublet to encase another jewel inside it. If it really is Pandora then, KID's mission will be done soon. And then we'll…" Kaito clenched his fists.

"Bocchama…"

"So to that person who sent the notice, I want to thank them for making things very interesting." Kaito cracked his knuckles after stretching his arms. "I've read on the news that no one was able to reach Kudo Shinichi so they decided to invite the brat instead since they're connected to Kudo anyway. I'm still not sure about that so can you confirm it for me please, Jii-chan? I need to be a hundred percent sure that he's not going to attend or else I'll need to construct another plan."

"Sure thing, Kaito-bocchama. I'll also prepare your things while you study the blueprints of Umeda Sky Building that I have recently acquired. I've already booked our flights so no worries about our transport to Osaka."

Kaito smiled at the old man then bowed. "You're reliable as always, Jii-chan. Thank you for everything."

The elderly assistant tapped the young magician's shoulders to make him stand normally. "No need for thanks, Bocchama. Toichi-sama would be so proud in heaven, I'm sure." Jii smiled sadly.

Kaito was silent for a few moments. "I hope so, Jii-chan. I hope… that this is it. That I could finally bring him to justice very soon. I really, really hope so."

After Jii confirmed that Kudo Shinichi will not be able to attend the heist, Kaito quickly set his plans in motion. After all, what's a more perfect disguise to use than the one who is about to be lured?

But before leaving Ekoda, he called Aoko to tell her his alibi— that his mom suddenly wanted him to accompany her to somewhere so he isn't able to attend school for a few days. He knew he heard a tinge of sadness in the girl's voice but Aoko stood strong and decided to have a sleepover with Keiko while her dad was away. Kaito, feeling a bit sorry for the girl because it was basically his fault that her father was always absent, told her that he'll buy her gifts when he comes home. He smiled when he heard the girl's cheers followed by a lecture on using magic to prank other people.

"Be good, Kaito! Don't trouble your mother too much okay? And don't pull some pranks on innocent people! Aoko will hit you with a mop if you did. Aoko will ask your mom, don't think that Aoko won't! You better listen to Aoko, okay?

…and take care, Kaito. Aoko will be waiting for you."

Kaito shook his head while he recalled the silly girl's reminders. He really doesn't need to remember how smooth and pleasing to the ear her voice has been when she told him that she'll be waiting for him. It will just make him feel weird. And feeling weird isn't good when he's infiltrating. He'll find a way make it up to her when he comes back but for now, he has to bury it deep inside his head to fully internalize his disguise. After all, the crowd that he was aiming to infiltrate was already on sight.

The Great Detective of the West, his girlfriend, Ran Mouri and Tantei-kun accompanied by a police officer named Otaki were gathered around the center. While he quietly approached, he listened in to the conversation that the group was having.

"I wonder if KID's going to have his way today— especially when the KID Killer and the Great High School Detective of the West are here to witness the heist." Otaki-keiji mused. "Whatever the results will be, I'm sure it will definitely going to be interesting. But of course, I'm siding with the police."

And at that moment, KID decided that it was the perfect time to announce his presence to his acquaintances.

"I would agree with you, Otaki-keiji. It would be very interesting, indeed." He hid a smirk when he observed the amusing reactions that he got in his arrival. 'Look at their faces, it seemed like they have seen a ghost.'

"K-K…"

"Shinichi?"

"Yo Ran." Kaitou KID, disguised as Shinichi Kudo, sheepishly smiled and waved his hand in greeting. "Sorry for the unannounced arrival. I didn't think that the case I was working on will be done early but since it did, I caught on the earliest flight that I could have so here I am."

Kaito noticed that Hattori was still gaping and Ran… he shivered at the look on her face.

'Why does she look very… intimidating? Not that I'm affected but I'm guessing that Meitantei-san owes her something. But what did Meitantei-san did to her? Maybe he screwed up— Oh crap, she's coming!'

Ran squeezed Conan's hand for the last time and let it go. The boy looked at her in worry but she just smiled and silently reassured him that everything's under control.

Ran approached Shinichi and gently patted his arm. "I didn't think that you'll be able to come. You just literally messaged me a few minutes ago so this was surprising." She waved her phone in front of Shinichi to prove her point. "But setting that aside, can we talk for a bit?"

Shinichi raised his eyebrow but nodded anyway. "Sure, there's still some time before the heist begins so let's walk around for a bit?"

"Oi—!" Heiji tried to protest but Kazuha prevented him from doing so.

"Ahou! This is their long-awaited meetin' so dun interfere!"

"But Kudo—"

"Ran-neechan will be fine, Heiji-niichan! After all, it's Shinichi-niichan who's with her, right?" Conan beamed at Shinichi. "So no doubt, she'll be safe with him!"

The kid might be smiling brightly at the newcomer but his eyes were telling something else.

'I dare you to touch her even a single millimeter and I'll be sending some soccer balls your way.'

"Of course, I won't hurt Ran, geez…" Shinichi stared flatly at Hattori, who replied with a glare. He inwardly smirked. 'So Tantei-kun and figured it out, eh?'

"Oh Shinichi before we go…" Ran pinched Shinichi's cheeks hard.

"Ow! What are you doing, Ran!?"

"Eh, just checking if you're really Shinichi. Since this is a KID heist, we need to be careful about disguises, right?" Ran smiled. "We'll be back in a bit, Otaki-keiji, Hattori-kun, Kazuha-chan. Please take care of Conan-kun for a while, okay?"

Kazuha spoke while sealing Heiji's mouth with her hand. "Sure, Ran-chan!"

"See you later, Ran-neechan!" Conan cheered but he couldn't help but wonder what Ran was planning. He is sure that Ran can take care of herself and KID won't do something outrageous to her but… there's something else that's bugging him.

'Could it be that Ran will…' Conan rubbed his chin in thought. 'If that is so then… I pity the poor thief.'

Finally breaking free from Kazuha's grip, Heiji went to Conan's side and harshly whispered. "Oi Kudo! That's definitely KID! Why did ya let Neechan go?"

The boy sighed. "I do not keep a leash on her so she can do whatever she wanted to do, Hattori. And don't worry, he'll never touch Ran. I've already given him a warning and he's smart enough to obey it."

'Besides, it gives me a bit of a comfort that Ran already knows who she's dealing with. So it will be fine.

…hopefully.'

Ran and Shinichi decided to go into a slightly secluded part of the sky garden. The girl leaned on the railings, letting her long brown hair dance freely with the cold summer wind.

Shinichi, who was already calculating on how the conversation will go, stopped a few steps behind her.

After moments of silence, the girl suddenly spoke up.

"Ne, Shinichi."

"Yes, Ran?"

Ran turned slightly towards Shinichi and tucked her hair in the ear. "Thank you again for giving me this pair of earrings. They're beautiful."

Shinichi tried to shake away the familiar images of a certain mop-wielding childhood friend in his head when he saw that scene but failed due to the uncanny resemblance of the two. He swallowed and turned away from the smiling woman. "Of course. I gave it to you so you better treasure it."

"Of course. I was shocked when you suddenly threw a box at me saying that it's something to make up for the lost times. Stupid, Shinichi." Ran pouted. "Though it's better than you kicking it…"

"Ba'rou. I didn't throw it! I tossed it to you and I knew that you will be able to catch it because you have quick reflexes." Shinichi reasoned.

"Ah, I see." Ran had a small smile on her lips before she turned her attention to the sky again. "So I was wondering, do you have any idea why you were invited in this heist?"

'Hmm, so this was what she wanted to talk about?'

Shinichi dug his hands in his pockets and looked up to the sky. "To be honest, I don't know. Maybe he wanted a repeat performance of last time at the clock tower? Either way, I'll be able to predict his moves and drive that thief into a corner."

'As if.'

The girl pressed on. "So care to share your plans with me? Oh don't look at me like that, I've known you well enough to know that you already have at least one in mind."

Shinichi chortled. "Fine, fine. I've already studied the blueprints of this building and came up with ways on how KID will enter or exit the building. There's a high chance that he'll escape from here, since the winds are favorable for gliding tonight. Of course, Nakamori-keibu will still be in-charge of the catching and I will just provide additional help on the sidelines."

"But Shinichi, do you really believe that it was KID who sent the notice?"

'Wow, having an insight like that is… She asks interesting questions, eh?' KID mused.

Ran continued. "To be honest, I doubt it. Because I'm just an average person and that notice was way too easy for me to decipher. KID usually put riddles in his notices, right? So I'm not sure but… maybe someone out there wants to lure you, Shinichi." Ran nervously laughed. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you. You were keeping a low profile recently for a case and now KID suddenly pops up this stint and I thought that it was going to ruin your cover…"

'She really cares for that Meitantei, eh? He's really a lucky guy. Too bad, it's not him she's talking to.'

Shinichi gave Ran a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Ran. Thank you for worrying. You're right, we cannot dismiss the possibility that it was not KID who sent the notice. It was too unrefined, to be honest. Even for that thief, he still maintains an air of class and refinery in his heists. I've noticed in some of his previous heists that there were intruders who were persistent in targeting KID. Nakamori-keibu doesn't use those barbaric means of catching KID so they're definitely not from the police force but these unknown people seem dangerous. Nobody knows what their motives are but it's definitely not good. But if those people were the ones responsible for the notice, then why invite me?" Shinichi furrowed his eyebrows.

'I have a feeling that Meitantei-san's scarce attendance recently was due to something else… Could it be that we have similar enemies? After all, Mouri-san mentioned about him keeping a low profile and about a cover…'

Ran was quiet after he spoke. It sort of unnerved him because he really didn't know the girl personally so he couldn't guess what the silence was for. He might have disguised as her at the Black Star heist but women are unpredictable. Why did this girl pull him away from her friends when they can openly discuss this with them?

Moments later, Ran finally spoke.

"Thanks for telling me, Shinichi."

And suddenly, Kaito didn't like the tone of voice that Ran used in pronouncing Meitantei-san's name.

Ran pushed away from the railings and faced Shinichi. She walked a few steps towards the boy until she's a foot away from him. She looked into his eyes and smiled.

Then pinched him hard on both cheeks.

"Ran!?" Shinichi exclaimed while nursing his sore cheeks.

"Hmm." Ran contemplated. "So you really do look like Shinichi, eh? Maybe the hairstyle's just different because I've noticed that your hair's more stiff than usual. I can smell the scent of hair wax on you, see? And I'm not sure but I think I've already seen someone like you before…"

"W-What are you saying, Ran? Of course I will look like him because I am Shinichi! Ba'rou, did you hit your head or something?" Shinichi placed a hand on Ran's forehead but the girl shook his hand away.

"And I'm not sure if that's your real voice but if it is, wow! It's like you're long lost twins or something. Clones, maybe?"

Shinichi's eyebrow twitched. "This is ridiculous, Ran."

Ran wagged her finger in front of Shinichi's face. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the 's what you taught me, right?"

"…right."

"You lied about the earring."

Shinichi froze.

"Well, I'm not blaming you if you didn't know. Shinichi gave it to me but it was Conan-kun who delivered the jewelry to my hands. In secret. So it's impossible for you to 'toss' the box to me. And Shinichi is not one to forget about the smaller details, mind you. He's a detective and it just happens that he has an eidetic memory, which makes it hard for him to not remember things. Especially when it's a promise about his return to me." At the end of her speech, looked sternly at Shinichi. "And Shinichi was right. It was not you who sent the notice but someone else. And we think that the sender is either after Shinichi or..."

Shinichi— Kaitou KID knew that resistance was futile. He wasn't prepared for this confrontation after all. Instead of digging a deeper grave, he dropped his act and smiled at Ran. "Ojou-san, you should have been a detective for your brilliant deduction."

Ran stepped back, sensing the man's resignation and waved her hand in dismissal. "One detective is enough in our relationship. Oh also, Shinichi called me moments before you arrived so that's why I knew you weren't him."

'Though that was a lie and he was actually shooting lasers towards your way earlier.' Ran thought.

KID barked a laugh at Ran's humor. "You are a very interesting person, my lady. So what is the true purpose of this conversation, hm? I suppose you have another topic in mind then?"

Ran laughed. "That's right, KID-san. Aside from asking you about your view on the heist, I also seek something from you. It is a personal request."

The magician raised his eyebrow. "Mademoiselle, the only thing I stole from you is the face of your lover, which I will return when the night's over. And I don't work for other people so I deeply apologize if your request will be denied."

"Yes, I appreciate that and I also understand where you're coming from but KID-san…" A sweet smile appeared on the maiden's face. "You're basically showing me your civilian face right now. I am a girl so I know if someone is wearing makeup or prosthetics." Ran tapped her chin in thought. "As I've told you earlier, I vaguely remember crossing paths with someone whom I thought as Shinichi before. I tried to chase him so that I could deck him for spending another time with a girl while I was waiting for his return but I was mistaken and the person that day was probably you. I am friends with the heiress of Suzuki empire and I can ask her for help in finding you based on the CCTV coverage of that area on that specific day. Or I can just ask the police. Which do you prefer, Magician under the Moonlight-san?"

Kaito almost fell on the floor with that statement. 'This young lady is exceptionally dangerous! Meitantei-san has been subconsciously nurturing a deadly weapon by his side!'

Ran shrugged when she was met with silence. "Growing up with detectives, a lawyer, a mystery novelist, and an internationally renowned actress has its perks, you know?"

KID sighed in resignation. Again. 'This lady is impossible. How can that Meitantei handle her?'

From a distance, Conan suddenly sneezed.

"Oh no, Conan-kun, are ya okay?" Kazuha fussed.

"I'm okay, Kazuha-neechan! It felt kinda chilly for a bit there but I'm fine!" The boy reassured the taller girl.

"If ya say so. Ran-chan will worry if I didn't take care of ya. So tell me if somethin' went wrong, eh?"

"Okay!" Conan chirped.

'Someone must be talking about me. Not that surprising since I'm invited in this heist but… come on.'

Conan sneezed again.

'Seriously?'

"So what is your request then?"

Ran beamed and shook the thief's hands in gratitude. "Thank you, KID-san! But first, you must promise me not to tell this to anyone, okay? Yes, even Shinichi. This is a conversation between you and I only so everything that will be discussed here will never come out in the open— at least until the task is over. So will you hear my request?"

KID released an exasperated sigh. "What can I do, Mouri-san? You've basically trapped me in my own domain. If I resist, you'll just throw me off the deck with your karate. I could fly but I doubt you'll spare me from having some broken bones during that and I can't have that before the heist even started. Also, I brought sleeping gas with me but it's very… flashy so people will notice. So it's a deal. But make it quick, the heist will start soon."

"Thank you again, KID-san! I'm sure you'll be interested in what I'm going to say." Ran smiled.

KID laughed. "I'm sure it is, Mouri-san. Truly."

Ran never thought, not even once, that she could unmask a certain phantom thief in her lifetime. No, she didn't even desire to do that in the first place but her concern for a certain shrunken detective drove her to gather all her wits and go all out on the elusive criminal to ensure his safety.

The girl didn't know if what she have discussed with KID would be useful but she just hoped that someday, this small deal will somehow be of help even for a bit.

After their talk, KID suggested that he'll put her to sleep and then remove his current disguise in public to announce to the world that the Kudo Shinichi who contacted the police and the person who suddenly showed up in the heist was just KID in disguise. Ran agreed because she knew that this will somehow erase the suspicions of the people who were after the Great High School Detective of the East, if they were really after Shinichi.

"I apologize Mouri-san for what I'm about to do."

"It's okay KID-san. I am the one who should apologize. I truly didn't want to unmask you but love makes us do weird things, ne?" Ran chuckled, trying to hide her embarrassment. "So thank you again, for hearing me out, KID-san. After this, just… bring me to Conan-kun, okay?" KID noticed the hint of affection in her voice when she uttered the mini-detective's name.

'They're really close, eh? I'm guessing that he'll throw something at me because I sort of broke his warnings but well, I have something more important to uphold and I can just avoid his 'punishment'. No biggie. I hope.'

"Okay Mouri-san. Ready?" KID readied his smoke bomb and waited for the girl's approval to strike.

"Okay. But before that, please call me Ran-san, okay? Mouri-san is my dad so…"

KID chuckled. "No problem, Ran-san. On the count of three, I'll drop the bomb. Don't worry, I'll catch you."

'Well if I didn't, two hounds will definitely come after me.'

Ran smiled then nodded. KID pulled the sleeping gas bomb out of nowhere and raised his hand. His other hand pulled out a gas mask and placed it on his face.

"One."

Ran closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Two."

KID checked his surroundings for the last time and started to lower his hand, its momentum increasing as the time ticked.

"Three."

He dropped the bomb and stayed behind Ran to catch her falling body from colliding with the floor. He hoisted the unconscious girl up and walked towards the direction of Tantei-kun's group.

He wasn't that surprised to see that Conan was already sprinting towards them. He could also see the spark of anger in the kid's eyes and he knew that he was going to make him pay for what he did to his Ran-neechan. But he had an oath to fulfill and he's not going to stop until the little lady gets what she wants.

KID stopped walking and smirked at the obviously tensed miniature detective. The child was already aiming his watch at him but he knew that the thing will not fire until he sets the princess down.

"Hello, Tantei-kun." He greeted with much enthusiasm.

"KID." Conan deadpanned.

"I apologize for the mishap. I accidentally dropped my smoke bomb once this little lady figured out who I was so this happened. Don't worry, she is unharmed." KID gently placed Ran down on the floor and stepped back.

"So you chickened out because you knew that she's definitely going to kick your ass, right?"

"Oh Tantei-kun, please. Don't use such an unrefined word in referring to me. Ran-san had more taste in choosing her statements than you, you know?"

Conan clicked his tongue and carefully approached the unconscious girl, checking for her vital signs. His eyes softened once he confirmed the girl's state from her light breathing. "Ran…"

"I assure you Tantei-kun, she will be conscious in no time. But for now, I will…" KID smirked once again and dropped a smoke bomb which made Conan's vision blurry. "…take my leave and start my show to satisfy my ever loyal audience."

The faux boy kicked a soccer ball towards KID but when the smoke cleared, the ball was met by nothing.

'Shit, he got away again!'

"See you later, Tantei-kun!"

Conan cursed. KID crossed a lot of lines today and he was not amused. Did he really have to make Ran sleep—

'Wait… did he just say that he dropped the gas because… Ran discovered his identity!?'

Conan's jaw dropped but immediately recovered to rouse his childhood friend from her forced slumber.

"Ran! Ran! Come on…"

The girl just grumbled and went back to sleep.

"Oi, oi." Conan dryly laughed and turned his attention towards his Osakan friend. "Hattori!"

"On it!" The Osakan high school detective rushed to where the jewel was placed, just a hundred meters away from their current location. Kazuha hurriedly walked to Ran's side instead of following Heiji and assured the boy that she'll take care of his caretaker while he take care of his business. Dropping a kiss on Ran's forehead then softly praised her for a job well done, Conan dashed after Heiji and stopped when they heard a familiar arrogant voice booming on the deck's sound system.

"Ladies and gentlemen!"

.

.

.

.

.

Conan just hoped that the weird sensation in his chest that was bugging him ever since the night started is not some kind of a bad premonition.

Ran woke up feeling like she had the worst hangover ever. She's definitely going to deck KID next time for making his sleeping gas that potent.

Trying to find her ground, she found herself in Kazuha's arms— who was currently sporting a face filled with horror and shock.

"Kazuha…chan?"

Ran patted her shoulder but Kazuha did not move. She called her friend once more but it proved to be futile so she followed the girl's gaze to find out what was making her freeze.

And then Ran suddenly understood.

Surrounded by a sea of unconscious police officers, stood KID. Her heart leapt on her chest when she did not immediately find Shinichi. She hurriedly searched for the shrunken teen and felt immediate relief when she found him standing meters away from the thief. KID, whose face was still as blank as ever, was holding his card gun towards the men in black, specifically to the one who was holding an unconscious beaten up girl who resembled like…

"Me…?" Ran was shocked at the resemblance of the girl to her own self. It was so uncanny that the only difference was the messy hair and some curves here and there. She felt chills creeping up her spine as she noticed the girl's poor state.

"R-Ran-chan…"

"Kazuha-chan!" Ran sat up immediately and hugged the shocked girl. "Kazuha-chan, are you alright?" She whispered.

"Heiji…"

Ran's eyes widened. Her eyes went back to the horrible scene and found Hattori unconscious behind Conan. "Oh no, Hattori-kun… What happened, Kazuha-chan?"

Luckily, the two girls were behind a giant pillar so their location was blocked from view. Kazuha kept her voice low as possible as she relayed the course of events to Ran.

"Conan-kun left ya in my care an' they went near KID. It was a typical heist, KID was taunting the police and Nakamori-han was shouting. KID released a kind of sleeping gas in order to make everyone asleep but luckily, Conan-kun an' Heiji brought some masks. But the ahou gave me 'is so that's why I'm still awake now. An' look where it got 'im now!" Kazuha wiped her tears hastily.

"Anyway, KID announced that he already got the jewel an' he was about to flee when suddenly… there was a gunshot. It hit KID but I think he was wearin' a bulletproof vest because I didn't see any blood. Then some people wearin' black clothes appeared and oh god…" Kazuha suppressed a sob. "I thought it was ya, Ran-chan. But it was impossible since I had ya in my arms. They brought the girl in and fer a moment, I saw KID losin' his composure. The man who was holdin' the girl was pointin' a gun on her temple an'… an' demanded that KID give the jewel to them. An' that's when ya woke up Ran-chan…"

"I see…"

Ran rubbed Kazuha's back to soothe the crying girl. "It's okay, Kazuha-chan. Thank you for telling me. And I believe that Hattori-kun is safe since he was only knocked out by the sleeping gas. He'll probably wake up around the same time as I did and for sure, he'll be staying low until he finds an opportunity to strike. So for now let's keep a low profile so that we won't get noticed, too."

Kazuha took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, Ran-chan. Sorry about freezing like that. I'm fine now."

Ran flashed a reassuring smile towards her Osakan friend. "All we can do is hope for the best Kazuha-chan. For now. We can ambush them but…"

"I know. It's hard to quietly approach them especially when they have a hostage. One mistake and that poor girl will…"

"Let's have faith in them. And pray that we get an opening so that we'll catch the enemies off guard. But for now, we have to stay alert and observe."

"I agree, Ran-chan." Kazuha grasped Ran's hand, seeking for comfort. "I believe in Heiji."

Ran squeezed her hand in return. "I also believe in them."

'Be safe, all of you. Be safe.'

Ran was blazing with fury. She felt— no she knew that girl. She was the one who was with KID on that rainy day. And with the way KID's hands were slightly trembling, it confirmed her suspicion that the girl is a very important person in his life. Under his flawless mask, Ran knew that KID was completely terrified when he saw the poor girl's state.

These men in black... was KID also suffering the same thing as Shinichi? Finding an elusive organization in order to hunt them down?

She couldn't contact Shinichi to ask him if those men in black were the very same enemies that he's searching for but she knew one thing and it wasn't good.

The night will not end smoothly and there's a high chance that nobody will walk away unscathed.

After Kaito performed his magic trick on Aoko, he dashed outside the classroom, leaving a fuming Aoko behind.

"Geez, that Bakaito! He's dead wrong if giving Aoko pretty roses and decorating it on Aoko's hair would stop Aoko from hitting him with a mop!" Aoko ranted.

"Calm down, Aoko-chan. You know how rowdy he is. Maybe something suddenly came up that's why he left in a hurry." Keiko tried to quell her friend's frustration by rubbing smooth circles on her back. "But whatever his excuse is, don't worry because I'm still here."

Since Kaito ditched from his cleaning duties leaving her friend alone, Keiko volunteered to help poor Aoko in today's job. She admits that the two's shenanigans always bring amusement to the whole class. Of course herself included. She's convinced that fighting was their way of releasing some of their sexual tension.

'But why did our teacher even pair the two up? The faculty knows how unproductive these two get when they're together and yet, here we are... But if I were to guess, I'm pretty sure it's Kuroba-kun's fault.' Keiko sweatdropped. 'Yup, he would totally do that.'

Aoko sighed, letting go of her anger. "Aoko knows. It's just… he promised Aoko that he would walk Aoko home today because he'll help Aoko with the groceries and all…"

Keiko smiled. "Don't worry, Aoko-chan! I'll help you in his place!"

Aoko's eyes gleamed with the prospect of her friend helping her. She can't carry everything on her own, right? "Really, Keiko-chan?"

The bespectacled girl nodded. "Yep! Who needs him anyway?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "And if you don't mind, I'll get Kuroba-kun's share of dinner as compensation, alright?"

Aoko giggled. "Thank you, Keiko-chan. Aoko's very grateful to you. Bakaito will regret what he did today! I should probably prepare some fish for him later..." She pumped her fists enthusiastically and grinned. "Father is in Osaka right now for that dumb KID heist so we'll have the house to ourselves!"

Keiko cheered. "That's my girl! Now, let's finish this so we can immediately prepare for dinner."

Aoko saluted in reply. Then she grabbed her trusty mop and started wiping the floor clean. On the other hand, Keiko grabbed the board eraser and started dusting it outside the window after she cleaned the board itself. They were able to finish in less than an hour and the two girls merrily skipped their way towards the grocery.

After dinner, Keiko volunteered to wash the dishes since Aoko cooked all of their food. Aoko thanked her friend and proceeded to wipe the table clean instead. She suddenly jumped in place when her mobile phone rang in her pocket. Trying to calm her racing heart due to being startled at the sudden phone call, she informed Keiko that she was going to take a call and went to the backyard.

She checked the caller ID before answering.

It was Kaito.

"Hello, Aoko?"

"Eh? Kaito?"

"Uh, yeah. Didn't you read the caller ID?"

"Aoko didn't. Aoko was busy." She lied.

"Distracted as usual."

"Baka! So, after ditching Aoko, you're calling Aoko now? What nerve." The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Hey, I left you a rose as an apology! Geez, Ahouko. Better pay attention next time." Aoko heard some rustling at the other end of the line, probably due to Kaito's movements. Probably shifted the phone to his other hand.

"Shut up, Bakaito. Bribing Aoko with a rose… and you didn't say anything."

"I did."

"Did not. You just poof-ed your way out."

Her best friend chortled. "Poof-ed? Really, Aoko? And yes, I did."

Red slowly bloomed on her cheeks. "Did not!"

"I diiiiiid!"

" Did not— geez, whatever Kaito. Why did you call Aoko?"

Kaito cleared his throat. "Uhhh… I just wanted to tell you that my mom… err, suddenly wanted me to tag along with her trip. Saying that the exposure will help me as a magician in the future so… uhm, please tell our teacher?"

"Ah."

"Sorry that I'm missing dinner."

"…"

"… And sorry for leaving you alone? I'll do the grocery duty next time, okay?"

Aoko smiled. She knew in her heart that she couldn't bear being angry with him for too long. Besides, the rose trick always melts her heart. It's her favorite trick of all time since it meant a lot to her. "Idiot. It can't be helped since your Mom was the one who put you up in this. Don't worry, Aoko got Keiko-chan with her."

"Ah, did she accompany you home?"

"Hmmhm. She also helped me clean in your place so you better make it up to her. After you make it up to Aoko, of course." Aoko giggled. "And oh, we ate your portion of our dinner. It was good."

"Sure, sure, no problem. Please tell Keiko-chan my apologies. And heh, who would eat your cooking anyway?"

Aoko pouted. "May Aoko remind you that you always eat at our house? You ungrateful jerk."

"Psh small details, small details. Anyway, sorry again about suddenly… you know. I know you don't like to be left alone so uh… at least you got Keiko-chan with you?"

"Hmhmm. Aoko told you to not worry about it, Bakaito."

"Geez, here I'm apologizing and then you're just dismissing me. Mean Aoko."

Aoko rolled her eyes at Kaito's childishness. "Whatever Kaito. Aoko means it. And… thanks for worrying about Aoko."

"…Nah, no biggie. Do you want me to bring you gifts when I get home?"

She suddenly perked up on that. "Ooooh! Really, Kaito? You would do that?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just answer before I change my mind."

"Of course Aoko would love to! Bring a lot, okay!? You owe me a lot. Then Aoko will give some to Keiko-chan. Wait, you didn't even tell Aoko where you're going."

"Yes, yes. Duly noted, my fair maiden." Aoko detected the mild sarcasm in his voice but ignored it since it was harmless anyway. "Also I didn't tell you where I was going because I also have no idea on our destination. Mom said that it was a surprise. Geez that old woman really is impulsive. I'm a high school student, you know? I need to be in class and all that stuff."

Aoko rolled her eyes with that. 'Not that you're already missing classes on your own anyway.'

"Be good, Kaito! Don't trouble your mother too much okay? And don't pull some pranks on innocent people! Aoko will hit you with a mop if you did. Aoko will ask your mom, don't think that Aoko won't! You better listen to Aoko, okay?"

"Yes, yes mother. Geez, who's even at my side? No one. Poor Kaito's always driven into a corner by mean women. This is so unfair. I need a refund."

"Be serious!"

"I am."

"If you are then why is Aoko doubting you?"

"Hey, maybe I'll change my mind about the gifts. I have a feeling that you don't want it anymore so…"

"Aoko dares you, Bakaito. Aoko already agreed to it so no take backs! Or else, Aoko will welcome you warmly with a mop when you return."

"As if you don't welcome me enough, Ahouko."

"Maybe I'll throw in some fish, too."

"H-Have mercy, Aoko-san..."

Aoko rolled her eyes for the nth time. "Why does Aoko even have a best friend like you?"

"Because I'm irresistible."

"Tone down the ego, mister. Might break the skies with that height."

"Heh. Consider yourself lucky that I am your best friend. People are dying to have a piece of me, you know? And yet here you are, having easy access to this fine piece of art."

Aoko wanted to hit Kaito on the face, hoping that it would reduce the boy's arrogance. "Egoist."

"Heh. What is a magician without his ego?"

Aoko sighed. "Whatever Kaito. Just go already and pack your stuff. You want some help?"

"Nah, I'm already at the station waiting for my mom. That was the reason I 'poof-ed' as you termed it. You know how Mom is. Again— Impulsive."

"Geez, if you just explained in the beginning then Aoko didn't have to throw the mop at you."

Aoko could basically hear his arrogant smirk through the line. "Ehhh, what's the fun in that?"

"Geez, just remember what I said okay? Take care of your mom and no pranks!"

"Fine, fin—"

"…and take care of yourself, Kaito. Aoko will be waiting for you." Her voice was soft, like she was sharing her deepest secret to Kaito. She tried hard to stop her blush from taking over her face and so far, she's convinced that she's succeeding. Lucky that this was a phone call or else she'll be busted in no time.

"…"

"…"

"Okay, Aoko. I'll be back soon."

"Hmmhm."

"Take care."

Click.

Kaito's voice laced with genuine care and concern never failed to make Aoko feel so touched. It was one of those rare moments that they have a hushed exchange of words— even if today's at the end of the conversation. She clutched her phone on her chest and smiled at the moon, wishing that Kaito could see its beauty clearly wherever he is right now, too.

"Aoko-chan? I'm done with the dishes!"

Startled with the sudden call behind her, Aoko almost dropped her phone but thankfully recovered it before it got smashed on the ground. She then started to return inside the house, but not before taking one last glimpse of the moon.

'Be safe, Kaito.'

"Aoko-chan?"

"Ah Keiko-chan! Sorry, Aoko's coming in!"

But not everything goes as planned.

An emergency has occurred at Keiko's house so she regretfully informed Aoko that she isn't able to stay the night since their rooms will be occupied by their sudden guests. Keiko can't stay at Aoko's house either because her mother asked for her help in accommodating the guests.

"I'm really sorry, Aoko-chan. Now I can't blame all of this to Kuroba-kun anymore…" Keiko frowned.

Aoko chuckled, waving her hand in dismissal. "Hey, it's alright Keiko-chan. Walking Aoko home and having dinner together is enough for Aoko. Aoko's just going to sleep after this anyway so it's alright."

Keiko gave her friend a hug. "Be careful, okay? You can call me when you feel lonely. Or you can bug Kuroba-kun in his trip!"

Aoko laughed then nodded. "Okay, Keiko-chan."

"Thanks for having me over, Aoko-chan. Dinner's great!"

"Let's do it again next time, okay?"

"Hmmhm!"

"Bye bye!"

"Bye bye!"

Aoko closed the door and heaved a sigh. "Geez, why now of all days? Aoko's lonely…" She dryly laughed. "Why is Aoko still not used to this? Aoko's always left alone to fend for herself, right?"

After a few minutes of silence, Aoko shook her head and pumped her fists, once somber eyes now filled with fiery determination. "But no problem! Aoko's a strong girl. Aoko can handle herself perfectly! Aoko's been taking care of two babies so it isn't really that lonely. Aoko will show them that Aoko can do—"

Knock, knock.

"Eh?" She peered through the peep hole and saw nothing. She decided to just ignore it until she heard a knock again. "Oh! Maybe Keiko-chan forgot something! I forgot that our peep hole was being faulty these days."

Aoko unlocked the door and smiled at her visitor. "Did you forget something, Keiko—"

Of all the things that her mind could imagine when welcoming a guest, a stranger shoving a chloroform-doused cloth on her nose and mouth sure isn't one.

She didn't recognize her attacker. She can't even glance at the culprit's face since he was strangling her from behind. Aoko tried her best to struggle against her attacker but was proved futile when she realized that the chloroform was already taking effect.

'Is this the end…? Otou-san…'

Finally, she lost all the fight and her eyes rolled back but not before muttering a single word of plea.

"K-Kaito…"

And then it was all black.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!"

A smooth voice boomed all over the Sky deck. A cloud of smoke enveloped the scene, making the policemen be on high alert. Just when the smoke cleared, Kaitou KID stood tall above the glass casing of the Golden Jubilee diamond.

"KID!" Nakamori-keibu bellowed.

"Good evening, Nakamori-keibu. How are you this fine evening?"

"Cut the bullshit, you thief. I swear I will catch you tonight!"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What a brave declaration that was, Nakamori-keibu. I wish you the best of luck from the bottom of my heart!" He grinned while bowing at his favorite police officer. "And oh, it's always very amusing to disguise as a detective, you know? It was convenient that Kudo Shinichi-san was not able to come, eh? I wonder how he's doing now since he's been off the radar for a while." KID touched his chin in thought. "I'm sure he will definitely make this heist more interesting if he was here, like the time at the clock tower. Remember that, Nakamori-keibu?"

"I have no time for your dilly-dallying, KID. You move and my men will grab you out of that podium."

KID ignored Nakamori's warning. "But no matter, Tantei-kun is here to liven up the things out here, right?"

Finally catching up to Hattori, Conan remained silent at KID's words. Although Heiji is another story.

"Hey! I'm still here, ya thief!"

KID faked a gasp. "Ah yes, Tantei-han from the West. How rude of me to forget. Nice to meet you."

"Kudo, is he really this infuriatin'?" Hattori hissed.

Conan laughed dryly. "Unfortunately, Hattori. Don't worry, you'll get used to it in the long run." He then shot a warning glance at his guilty friend. 'And mind the names for pete's sake.'

'Whoops, sorry 'bout that.'

"Dang. This is why I dun deal with thieves." Heiji scratched his head in annoyance.

KID sweatdropped at Conan and Heiji's conversation. He coughed to steal their attention— how cool is that, stealing their attention to watch him steal the jewel? Perfect.— and raised his hand.

"I apologize to cut our conversation short my dear detectives but I think you all need to…" KID dropped something from his hands and suddenly, he was equipped with a gas mask. "…visit dreamland for a little bit while I meet the star of the night."

"Hah! You think that we're going to be fooled by that?" Nakamori smirked then turned to his men. "Men! Use your masks, the gas will make you doze off!"

"Yes, keibu!"

The head of the KID task force plastered a smug grin on his face. "So what now, KID? Can't bring my men down?"

Thud.

One police officer was on the floor, sleeping. Followed by another, and another, and another…

KID raised his eyebrow. "Come again, keibu?"

"What..?" Nakamori's words died in his mouth as he felt dizziness coming to his system. "Why…?" He checked his mask, only to find out that there was a hole in the item.

KID laughed. "You're welcome, Nakamori-keibu! Sweet dreams!"

As if on cue, Nakamori's men dropped one by one and the only people left awake were Nakamori, Conan, Heiji and of course, KID himself.

Nakamori gritted his teeth in exasperation, thinking about how KID must have infiltrated the supplier of the police gas masks. A memory of a grinning boy with a cap flashed in his mind. 'Of course! He disguised as the delivery boy of the masks!'

The police officer's body won't do anything that his brain commanded and he felt like he was slowly blacking out. He tried to fight the drowsiness but to no avail. "Damn it, KID…" And with a thud, Nakamori-keibu finally passed out on the floor, joining his taskforce in their slumber.

"I knew this was going to happen. Good thing we prepared our personal masks, right Hattori?" Conan turned towards Heiji's direction with sparkling eyes but immediately lost their shine when he saw his friend struggling to keep his consciousness.

"Sorry, Kudo… I kinda gave mine to Kazuha." Heiji dropped on the floor. "Sorry, I'll wake up soon… prolly…" Then he passed out.

Conan facepalmed but didn't blame Heiji. "This is why you should just tell her your feelings, you idiot. Did you forget that we had a spare one in the bag? And that the gas won't reach where they are?" He sighed and started walking towards KID who was preparing to tinker the jewel's glass casing.

"Oh well, this could work too."

After the sleeping gas has settled down, KID stepped down from the podium and started to remove the glass casing in order to free the jewel from its restraints. He had to give it to Nakamori-keibu, though. The glass casing had a lot of mechanisms for KID to mess with before he could even reach the main lock AND together with the lock, he has to crack the code that goes along with it before he can finally open the encasement. He paused his work when he felt a familiar presence behind him.

He glanced at his back then chuckled when he confirmed his guess about the identity of the approaching presence.

'Of course, he'll come prepared. Never underestimate Tantei-kun ever.' KID stared beyond Conan's back. "Although Tantei-han seems down for the count.'

Conan was already aiming his watch at the thief with eyes of a predator cornering his prey. He spoke, an octave lower than his usual kiddy voice. "So you were the one who sent the notice?"

KID shrugged. "Hmmm? Whatever are you saying, Tantei-kun? I am here, right?" He casually continued his work on the glass casing, ignoring the fact that Conan was just one click away from incapacitating him.

Conan, who realized that there was no point in holding the thief 'hostage', put his watch down and sighed. "Be serious, KID. You didn't think that I noticed the simplicity of your notice? Even a grade schooler can decipher it."

"May I remind you that you are different from ordinary grade schoolers, Tantei-kun?"

Conan stared flatly at his 'rival'. "Should I be flattered?"

"Oh yes, of course! Not many people have the privilege to have a one-on-one talk with me, you know? Oh yeah, Ran-san is one of those privileged people."

The faux child was ticked with the thief's mention of Ran's name but shoved down his irritation— at least for later—and just went straight to the point. "Since you keep dodging my question, I am going to assume that you didn't send the notice at all. This is quite similar to what happened to the Seiran painting, only that you have the intent to actually steal the item this time. And why would you even invite someone who has been missing-in-action for months now? What's the point?"

KID raised his eyebrow but not breaking his focus on his task. "Huh, so Meitantei-san is on a vacation, eh?"

"Of course, you're gonna comment on that first. Really?" Conan said dryly.

KID chuckled. "Well, I have my sources. And I used the information well."

'Used it well, huh?' Conan smirked. "So this heist is really not your doing?"

KID sighed. And with a final click, the glass casing of the jewel was finally unlocked and the thief grabbed the beauty in his glove-clad hands. "Did you not hear what I just said?"

"Yeah, yeah alright. But I don't know, KID. I just asked a simple question. If Ran-neechan was able to expose you, then you don't even want me to do that again, right?" Conan wasn't even trying to goad the answers out of KID anymore, the detective already confirmed that he wasn't the one who sent the notice. The inability to straightly claim the notice unlike the previous times was a major sign that the usually arrogant thief was innocent.

KID hummed as he casually raised the jewel up to expose it under the moonlight. "Huh, am I supposed to be frightened by that, Tantei-kun?"

"Not really. So somebody else sent the notice and now you're benefiting from it because you finally got the precious jewel in your hands. Are you not concerned at the consequences that will come after this heist?"

Conan was expecting a snarky remark but instead, he was met with silence. He gazed at KID, who stood frozen in front of him, still holding the Golden Jubilee under the moonlight.

"KID…?"

"This… I…"

Conan noticed that the hand KID was using to grip the jewel was slightly trembling. He also noticed that the jewel looked a bit different than usual after being exposed under the moonlight. 'Did it just turn… red? No wait, there's another jewel inside…? A doublet? A brown diamond coupled with the rarest color of diamond!?'

KID was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The moment the moonlight hit the jewel, a smaller bloody red jewel appeared at the center of the Golden Jubilee. This is it. This is what he was searching for.

"…Pandora."

The mythical jewel that will grant immortality to one who desired it.

The jewel that Kaitou KID's been looking for.

And the jewel that led to Kuroba Toichi's death.

Of all the emotions currently swarming in his chest, he chose to laugh. He laughed, ignoring the incredulous looks that Conan was giving him. He laughed all of his sorrow, his exhaustion and his joy. He laughed because finally, Kaitou KID's overdue act is going on an end.

He clutched the jewel at his chest and covered his eyes with the other hand. "Finally…" KID took a deep breath. "Finally, I—"

Then Kaitou KID's statement was stopped by a bullet on his stomach.

Conan was puzzled when he heard KID's words. 'Why is KID acting like that?' And then his eyes widened when he heard the gunshot.

KID staggered backwards as he clutched both the jewel and his abdomen at the same time.

And it was at that moment that Conan realized that the bullet hit KID's stomach.

"KID!" Conan's eyes were darting at every direction, estimating the origin of the gunshot. It was from the 12 o' clock direction. A straight shot. He caught a glimpse of the hitman and he released his soccer ball and fired at the culprit. After he heard a thud, he started to rush at KID's side but stopped when he found the thief's white coat, unstained.

"Heh, Kevlar vests can really save your ass, eh?" KID straightened his posture while dusting off his coat.

Conan let out an exasperated laugh. "Not that I care but, I don't really want anyone dying at my feet today."

"How touching, Tantei-kun." The thief pocketed the jewel and fixed his top hat. He grabbed his card gun and twisted the barrel. "But it's best to assume that our guests aren't that happy with the outcome."

As if on cue, a group of seven men dressed in black suddenly swarmed in front of the thief and the shrunken detective. But that wasn't the icing on the cake.

"Once a survivor, always a survivor. Right, Kuroba Toichi?"

KID hissed. "Snake."

'Kuroba Toichi!? The famous magician? Didn't he die eight years ago?' Conan thought.

Snake appeared from the darkness but he wasn't alone.

"If I were you KID, I will put that toy down."

Conan and KID noticed that Snake was dragging an unconscious girl at the waist with a pistol aimed at her head.

A girl with unruly, long brown hair.

KID froze. His jaw dropped and his hand shook when he identified exactly who Snake was holding.

"A…oko?"

Conan was startled to hear KID speak with a voice so broken that he had to double check if it was really KID who muttered the word. To be honest, he was shocked too. The girl resembled Ran way too much but he knew that Kazuha and Ran were still behind the pillar, hidden from sight. The boy glanced at the thief and at that moment, he was sure that KID was more than horrified with what he had seen. But the horror was quickly replaced by blankness and the trembling of his hands lessened.

"What are you waiting for, KID?" Snake pressed the muzzle of the gun harshly on Aoko's temple to emphasize his point.

Kaitou KID dropped his card gun and kicked it towards Snake's direction. "Happy now? Why did you even bring Nakamori-keibu's daughter here? Your business is with me, right?"

Snake smirked. "My business is with the jewel that's inside your pocket."

'Of course, it's about Pandora. Always been about Pandora. First, my father. Now… Aoko. This damned stone is ought to be destroyed!' KID tried to muster a smirk, hoping that it looked genuine enough to fool the man. 'Pokerface, Kaito. Pokerface, damn it!'

"Too bad, Snake. It isn't what you guys are looking for."

"Really? It doesn't seem like it to me when you were laughing a few moments ago."

"Why? Is it forbidden to laugh at my own failure?" KID shook his head. "This isn't Pandora, Snake. Now, release Nakamori-keibu's daughter. He might not be able to catch me, but I swear if his daughter doesn't come back to him alive, I'm not sure what will happen to your little… party." He eyed each of Snake's men to prove his point.

"You're still feigning innocence, I see. Didn't you know that I've already discovered who you are, fake KID?"

Conan, who was silently observing the scene a few steps away, had his eyebrows raised to his head. 'What?'

KID flinched. A drop of sweat rolled from his forehead to his chin as he gulped to ease his suddenly parched throat. "I don't think I understand you, Snake. Fake? Me? Are you kidding? Which part of this—" He gestured to himself. "—exactly is fake hmm?"

Snake lifted the hand holding Aoko by the waist and gripped her face hard that his nails were digging at her skin. KID felt relief when the man removed the gun on Aoko's temple but it was brief when that very same hand harshly pulled at the girl's hair to keep her upright. KID smothered a growl at the despicable man's mishandling of Aoko.

And yet even after all the pain, Aoko was still unconscious.

"It's easy you know? I had someone help me find everything about Kuroba Toichi. And from there, it was easy to figure out everything." Snake cackled. "And I found out that this girl, who was living beside your home, is the key in making you fully cooperate, see?"

'Wow, finally he grew some brains! He has the worst timing of all though!'

At this, KID laughed. And for Conan, his laugh sounded very bitter. "Really, Snake? Nakamori-keibu's daughter? He hates KID's guts! Did you realize that she might have cooperated with you if you just asked? She's been waiting for a chance to take down KID, you know?"

Snake's smile was smug and KID didn't like it one bit. "Oh about this girl? Very strong. Struggled until the end. But of course, she didn't last. Do you want to know what was the last thing she said before she lost consciousness?

KID gritted his teeth.

"Not so confident now, are we? Well, since I am feeling generous tonight, I will tell you. An agent of mine visited this girl last night, and covered her nose and mouth with a cloth doused in ammonia. She fought against his captor's hold but the chemical was already sapping her energy away. The last thing she said?"

"Help me… Kaito…"

And then her world turned into nothingness.

Conan was expecting the phantom thief to explode after Snake's story. But KID just closed his eyes and heavily sighed. When he opened his eyes, his face turned blank. Unreadable.

It was the perfect pokerface, if only his hands were not trembling in rage.

"You…" He emitted a low growl. "Bastar—"

And that was the moment when Conan thought that it was enough.

"Ne, ne, Oji-san!" Conan walked slowly towards Snake and KID tensed at what the kid was doing.

'What the fuck is he doing!?'

It seemed like Snake completely missed Conan's presence from the very start. If not for the kid's interruption, he might not be able to even notice that there was a child in a possible battlefield.

"Is Onee-chan okay?" Conan blinked his eyes innocently. "Are you going to send her to a doctor to get treated?" He even tilted his head to make himself more convincing.

"W-What is this brat doing here!?" Snake stuttered, obviously startled at Conan's remarks.

'He really is an idiot. Seriously? He didn't notice me after that long talk?' The shrunken detective inwardly laughed.

"Will you answer my questions, Oji-san? Onee-chan looks hurt you see? Ran-neechan told me that wounds should be treated immediately to prevent infection!" Conan frowned but instantly lit up as if a bright idea suddenly popped out in his head. "Ah! You want me to help you carry the poor Onee-chan? You need to support her legs!" The boy reached for Aoko's foot but was met with a gun instead.

"Brat, I don't know what you're trying to pull but I'm going to kill you if you mess with me."

Conan started to tear up. 'Thank God for giving me an actress as a mother!'

"Uwah! Oji-san is so mean! I just wanted to help Oneechan but Oji-san is being a meanie to me!" He threw a tantrum and stomped his foot. He removed his glasses and buried his tear-streaked face in his arms.

It was obvious that Snake's men didn't know what to do. It was a kid. What harm can he do anyways?

Still pointing a gun at Conan, Snake clicked his tongue. "What the hell are you all doing!? He's just a kid! Get him away from here!"

Snake's men moved from their spots to seize the kid but stopped after a few steps when Conan suddenly stopped crying. His eyes were still covered by his arm and there were still tears on his cheeks but instead of a frown, they found a grin etched on the boy's face.

The silence that came afterwards was eerie. But it was broken when a single word was uttered by the supposed-to-be hysterical child.

"Go."

A moment after Conan said the word, a gunshot was heard and Snake's gun was knocked off from his hand. KID took the opportunity to dash at the howling man to grab his card gun and to catch Aoko who was freed from her captor. He shot some cards at Snake's pants, sealing it on the floor, preventing the man's escape.

KID bit back a sarcastic grin. 'Goddamn it, Tantei-kun is one creepy kid! He has a damn sniper on his arsenal!? And he actually made a path for me while he was wailing his ass off earlier!?'

Since Snake ordered his men to grab Conan, he was left unguarded and KID took advantage of it. After he secured Aoko, he shot cards at Conan's direction to prevent some of Snake's men from approaching the boy in order to return the favor but it seems that it wasn't needed anymore because together with Conan's endless arsenal of soccer balls, the Great High School Detective of the West was also back in action.

Conan grinned. "Took you long enough, Hattori!"

"Heh, Sorry 'bout that. The night's just great an' all that it lulled me to sleep. But it seems that stayin' awake was much better since—" Hattori whacked a lackey with a police baton that he picked up somewhere. "— I get to practice my skills with this!" And another one was out cold.

"You're so ridiculous, Hattori." One soccer ball hit a lackey on his face. "Ooh, they're getting lesser. Really, they should be ashamed that a kid could knock them out cold."

"May I remind ya that yer shoes are not normal?"

"Ah yeah, sorry." One soccer ball hit the last of Snake's men in his family jewels. "Whoops. But not sorry."

Hattori barked a laugh. "Geez Kudo, no mercy at all."

"Hey, I had to do that shameful acting so it's fair to be compensated about it."

Heiji chuckled as he scanned the area for more enemies. "Oh wow, no bad guys left."

"And I just received a confirmation that the remaining snipers were already taken care of." Conan tapped on his ear, revealing a small black earpiece.

"Geez Kudo, next time tell me these things beforehand okay? Ya always keep these things to yerself."

"Sorry about that, Hattori. I wasn't able to tell you because you guys went to school."

'Though Ran knew about the back-up plan.'

"Oh yeah. Phonecalls is a no since we 'ave no idea on who's listenin'. But anyway, at least we're done cleanin' up here."

"Well, there's still that guy who was still whining about his hand."

Conan and Heiji approached the writhing Snake – how fitting, Heiji thought with a laugh— and held their guard. KID was kneeling nearby, still pointing his card gun at the man while holding Aoko gently in his arms.

"Do you think that you've won, KID? Hah, I'll obtain that jewel no matter what!" Snake barked. "I still have men somewhere in the vicinity!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble but every single accomplice that you've brought here was already apprehended by the police." Conan smirked. "You lose, Oji-san."

"YOU BRAT—"

KID ignored the blabbering man and focused on the approaching detectives. Conan stopped in front of the thief and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"KID."

"Tantei-kun."

Conan looked at the battered Aoko. "…You already know where Ran-neechan is."

And KID didn't need to be told twice. He nodded his thanks at the detectives' direction then stood up, carrying the limp Aoko in the process. "Excuse me."

"Hah, now you're running away? What a coward, fake KID!" Snake goaded.

KID stopped. He shot the infuriating man with the coldest look that he could muster then continued his walk towards Ran and Kazuha.

Ran and Kazuha were watching the events unfold in silence. Both girls released a relieved sigh when they saw KID grab the poor, battered girl from the one named Snake.

Kazuha was also thankful that Heiji was able to wake up at the most crucial moment and helped Conan in fending the bad guys off.

Ran on the other hand, shook her head while giggling. 'So that was his plan? Geez, he's lucky that it still worked even though it was probably not his enemies this time.'

The girls noticed that the fight was finally over and only one enemy was left— the one who was still stuck in place because of KID's cards that skewered his slacks on the floor.

Conan and KID exchanged some words and after that, Ran and Kazuha were a bit startled when they noticed that the phantom thief was walking towards their direction. He stopped in front of them.

"Ran-san."

"KID-san."

Kazuha was confused with what was happening but shoved down her doubts when she saw the extent of the limp girl's injuries.

"KID-han! Is she a'right?"

The thief smiled at Kazuha. "Yeah, she's still breathing. Thanks for the concern, Ojou-san." KID kneeled in front of the girls, careful in moving Aoko down. "Ran-san, you can consider this as a favor but…"

Ran waved her hand in dismissal. "It's okay, KID-san. We'll take care of her, I promise."

"…Thank you."

KID gently placed Aoko's head on Ran's lap and laid her body on the floor. Then, he removed one of his gloves to caress the unconscious girl's cheek. Ran and Kazuha did not miss the tender look in the thief's eyes along with the promise that he whispered to the unconscious girl.

"After this, I'll tell you everything, Aoko. So please hang on." He removed his cape and draped it over Aoko. "You might hate me afterwards but if it keeps you alive then it's okay."

The two girls smiled at each other.

"Dun worry KID-han, we're perfectly capable of protecting 'er so go an' finish yer business already!" Kazuha said.

Ran smiled. "Kazuha's right, KID-san. Aoko-san will be taken care of. Go."

KID softly laughed and bowed in front of the girls. "It would not be right if I did not respect the wishes of these two fine young ladies so yes, I will go now and leave the sleeping princess with her two protectors. I am confident that she will be guarded well."

"Ya better believe it, KID-han!"

"KID-san?"

"Ran-san?"

Ran smiled at the thief. "I can tell that Aoko's a very important person to you and… I feel that she will not hate you as long as you tell her the truth."

KID's eyes widened as he saw the understanding in Ran's face. He flashed a bitter smile instead. "She shouldn't."

And with a final bow, Kaitou KID returned to where Snake was to finish Kaitou KID's goal once and for all.

It was quiet.

As KID approached, he saw that Conan and Heiji just finished tying up Snake's hands and feet. He noticed that the man had a soccer ball imprint on his face and figured out that the kid had knocked his nemesis out.

"Geez Tantei-kun, do you ever run out of those things?"

Conan rolled his eyes. "I just did."

"Huh, okay. And oh, thanks for wrapping up my gift very nicely." KID smirked.

"Don't get the wrong idea. After you're done with him, I probably have a few questions for him so please try not to push him into a coma." The boy stated flatly.

KID hummed and crouched in front of the unconscious Snake. He poked his face once while having a blank look on his face. "To be honest, I just wanted this—" Another poke. "—man in jail. He had a lot of wrongdoings, you know? Killing my old man, included. And oh, plus making Aoko his personal punching bag." He grabbed Pandora from his pocket and exposed it under the moonlight once more. "Just for this."

The jewel turned blood red once more, spots decorating the floor like a spotlight.

Conan and Heiji were silent but both were shocked at what KID was revealing. They also realized that Aoko must have been the unconscious girl earlier.

KID stood up and kicked Snake hard on the face. The man was suddenly awake, thrashing when he realized that his movements were completely constricted by the ropes tied to his limbs. He sent a colorful string of curses towards his captors especially KID.

"Fuck you, Kuroba! Do you think you'll get away with this? I have people who can kill your whole family! So if you want to stay alive, untie me and hand me Pandora!"

KID dryly laughed. "Don't make threats that you already executed, Snake. Good luck in trying to find my mother, though. She isn't a normal person, you know?"

"Don't underestimate us." Snake hissed.

"But you're making it hard for me, Snake."

Heiji fought an incoming snort and he was barely successful. However, Conan's face remained passive.

"You know I could expose your true identity to these young detectives. You will be in jail in no time!"

KID stared flatly at the smug-faced Snake. "Really? That's your last resort? Did you know that they could totally expose me anytime with all the information you've blabbered tonight?" He juggled Pandora using his right hand then tossed the jewel on his other hand. He gripped it tightly and brandished a hammer out of nowhere.

"Hah, so are you going to hammer me to death now, KID?" Snake's voice was laced with sarcasm.

KID smiled. "On the contrary Snake, you're not the one who's going to be hammered tonight."

He placed the jewel on the floor and slammed the hammer down, breaking Pandora into small, glittering pieces.

Snake let out at agonizing howl before he collapsed on the floor due to Conan's tranquilizer dart. KID raised his eyebrow at the child.

The boy shrugged. "Just making sure that he doesn't die of a stroke or something."

Conan put his wrist down, and together with Heiji, they watched KID stand up and bow to his audience for the very last time.

私は 毛利蘭 が私の妻として私の人生にいることを望みます。

Watashi wa Mouri Ran ga watashi no tsuma to shite watashinojinsei ni iru koto o nozomimasu.


End file.
